Bill Belichick leads history lesson after Patriots’ victory in Cleveland

Related: Bill Belichick earns 324th career win, tying George Halas for second-most all-time

Bill Belichick is well-known for being a football historian. So when visiting FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, he made sure to share some of the history with his players.

After a 38-15 victory over the Browns, several Patriots players did not immediately head to the team busses as they normally would. Instead, under Belichick’s instruction, they went back out to the field to look at the Browns’ Ring of Honor — in particularity Jim Brown, Paul Brown, Ozzie Newsome, Bill Willis and Marion Motley.

“As many know, our players are very active in social justice and inequality and things like that,” Belichick explained postgame. “I told them how important five of those names are. All of them are great players up there and great people up there, so I’m not saying that. But there’s five that to me really absolutely stand out on the Mount Rushmore of this conversation.

“Paul Brown for reintegrating the NFL. He came into the NFL through the All-American Conference with Bill Willis and Marion Motley. So those three. Then of course Ozzie Newsome being one of the first black players in Alabama and one of the great ones. Great player. Great general manager. Great person. Then of course, the great Jim Brown. He kind of stands above everybody with what he’s done for equality, what he stands for, what he was as a football player, what he is as a man.”

The main word Belichick used to describe those five individuals: courage.

“Paul Brown took a lot of courage to do what he did,” Belichick said. “Took a lot of courage to do what Willis and Motley did. Lot of courage to do what Ozzie did. It took a lot of courage for Jim Brown to do what he did. I told them I thought they should go out there and just think for a minute about some of the sacrifices that those guys made. Not just on the field. Not just as players, but as people and for what they stood for.”

The history lesson didn’t stop there, either. Leaving the FirstEnergy Stadium, Belichick instructed that the team busses stop at the Jim Brown statue just outside the arena.

The win in Cleveland also marked a historic moment for Belichick himself, as he recorded his 324 career win which ties him for second-most all-time with George Halas.

“Unbelievable what he has done,” longtime captain Matthew Slater said. “I think that it is only fitting that we are here in Cleveland, the city that ran him out. He is proving all these years later that he is the best.”