Bill Belichick and the Broncos have a connection going back 46 years

Ironically enough, Bill Belichick was more successful as Patriots coach against the Broncos without Tom Brady — right up until the end.

Over the years, Belichick’s Patriots went 11-10 against the Broncos, including four postseason duels. And it took Belichick’s final win as Patriots coach to nudge his side over the Broncos in a 24-season war that featured a slew of memorable duels.

The final one lacked the gravitas of the postseason duels, but was no less notable historically. And for Bill Belichick, it was yet another example of pouncing on a tactical opening.

In that case, it was Sean Payton calling a pair of timeouts when the Patriots had possession in the final two minutes. That was a decision Sean Payton said he would make “99 times” out of 100 — in the name of getting his offense the ball with the most amount of time remaining for what could have been the game-winning field goal in regulation.

But that doesn’t mean the door wasn’t slightly ajar. And as Belichick’s teams did so often in his 24 years as Patriots coach, his side pushed through it — in this case, thanks to a pass down the left sideline from Bailey Zappe to DeVante Parker. New England got the game-winning field goal moments later for a 26-23 trump.

And Belichick had his final New England win.

That took Belichick’s record as Patriots coach to 3-1 against the Broncos without Tom Brady … and 8-9 with him.

Those non-Brady wins came with Drew Bledsoe, Matt Cassel and, finally, Zappe.

The only loss suffered by Bill Belichick as Pats coach without Brady was with Cam Newton taking snaps during the 2020 COVID season in a bizarre 18-12 Broncos win inside an empty Gillette Stadium. The game was delayed a week, which allowed Drew Lock to return to the lineup after missing the previous two full games due to injury, and then saw a series of drops keep the Pats in it before Denver escaped with its first win in Foxborough, Mass. in 14 years.

BUT IF YOU INCLUDE CLEVELAND, THE BRONCOS HAVE THE UPPER HAND ON BILL BELICHICK

Belichick’s head-coaching career began with the Cleveland Browns in 1991, where he assumed the reins after serving as the defensive coordinator with the New York Giants.

That stewardship resulted in a mixed bag. Belichick gradually improved the Browns’ form, guiding them to an 11-5 finish and a wild-card win in the 1994 season. But in that year, the Browns lost to a 7-9 Broncos team. In fact, Belichick’s Browns went 0-4 against the Broncos.

That gives Belichick an 11-15 record overall against Denver.

Belichick did succeed at rebuilding the Browns roster and putting together a powerhouse coaching and football-operations staff that included seven future NFL general managers — led by Ozzie Newsome — and five eventual NFL head coaches, none who became more prominent than Nick Saban.

DENVER WAS AN EARLY PART OF BELICHICK’S PATH

The Broncos weren’t the first NFL team for which Bill Belichick worked. That distinction goes to the Baltimore Colts, with which Belichick — who grew up in nearby Annapolis — broke into the league as a special assistant in 1975.

After two seasons on the Detroit Lions’ staff, Belichick joined the Broncos. Officially, his title in the Denver media guide was listed as “director of films,” meaning he handled splicing up and compiling game film for the rest of the coaching staff.

One of the early NFL jobs for Bill Belichick was as the Broncos’ director of films in 1978: pic.twitter.com/7yDggeJmE8

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) January 11, 2024

“It was a great year for me. It was a great experience,” Belichick said in a press conference last month.

But he also helped out on special teams and defense. And the latter led him to Broncos defensive coordinator Joe Collier, the architect of the “Orange Crush” defense.

Collier took the Broncos D to another level when he changed from a 4-3 to a 3-4 alignment during the 1976 season. And as Belichick went down his coaching path as a defensive assistant, he typically returned to the 3-4.

“I worked more on special teams and the defensive side of the ball in Denver. And, that was with Joe Collier and Richie McCabe, so it was Stan Jones, Bob Zeman, Richie McCabe and Joe Collier. And then, I did the breakdowns and stuff like that. So, I learned a ton out there.”

And it led to one of Belichick’s trademark soliloquies regarding the sport’s history and tactics.

“It was a graduate course from Joe, from Richie about the secondary play, and just in general the 3-4 defense. And then, we played a over defense. It was like a version of a 3-4 Detroit, but it was a little bit different. Joe played the 3-4 defense that he played in Denver, which was — the spacing was the same, but it was configured a lot differently than what we eventually ran in the Giants when Coach [Bill] Parcells came.

“So, Baltimore was all 4-3. Detroit was a different version of odd spacing, 3-4 defense in Denver. Then, we played 4-3 for a couple years with Ralph Hawkins in New York. And then when Coach (Bill) Parcells came, it was all 3-4, but it was a different type of 3-4 defense than what Joe ran in Denver, even though the spacing was the same. And that was — looking back on it — a great learning experience, because I saw kind of the same thing, but they were actually very different in the way they were coached and the way they were — the schematics of it.

“And, of course, that changed some of the fundamentals too. The red area coverages that Joe ran out there, I’d say at that time, he was pretty far ahead of his time. They’re pretty common now, but at that time they were pretty unique for the most part. So, that was a great experience.

“I really didn’t have too much interaction on the offensive side of the ball, other than — I was there, but I wasn’t in those meetings, and that type of thing. We lost in the playoffs there, but had a good team the year before — they had gone to the Super Bowl, beat Oakland three times. So, coming off of that year, coming off the ’77 season, they lost to Dallas in the Super Bowl. So, a lot of good players, a lot of really good players out there, and a lot of good coaches, a lot of good experience that I gained.

“Babe Parilli, who was quarterback coach — they had [Craig] Morton — I learned a lot from Babe, too, because I spent a lot of time with Babe. He kind of mentored me from the opposite side of the ball. I mean, I asked him a lot of questions and bothered him a lot, but he couldn’t have been more accommodating, from just the quarterback coaching perspective, because that’s something I hadn’t done. So, I learned a lot out there that year.”