Bill Belichick and Marv Levy once had a major feud
ESPN aired its “Four Falls of Buffalo” 30 for 30 on Saturday night, highlighting the Buffalo Bills’ four consecutive Super Bowl defeats in the 1990s. It brought to light memories of a great feud that then-Bills coach Marv Levy had with an upstart coach of the Browns named Bill Belichick.
The two teams met in 1995, and Levy accused Belichick’s Browns of faking injury to slow down the Bills’ no-huddle offense, and Belichick let him have it, even mocking Levy’s tactics, as detailed by an October 8, 1995 story by the Baltimore Sun’s Vito Stellino.
“I think that’s a bunch of garbage,” Belichick said of Levy’s accusations. “It’s hard for me to have respect for Levy for saying that. It’s demeaning.
“Here’s a guy offensively who came in and tried to run the Wing-T offense in Kansas City. That was brilliant.”
Belichick then went on to praise Levy – for turning the offense over to Jim Kelly and his no-huddle, because Levy was a poor offensive playcaller.
If you’ve seen how Belichick treats the media, this probably doesn’t stun you.
Alas, that was the end of the Levy-Belichick feud. Belichick’s Browns finished 5-11 that season and he was fired shortly after the team packed up and moved to Baltimore. By the time he took over at New England, Levy had retired as a head coach.
