Bill Belichick once savagely trolled his own defensive backs

Dec 29, 2019; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on the sidelines during the second half of their loss to the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Bill Belichick is known more for his motivational skills than his sense of humor, but the New England Patriots coach apparently knows how to combine the two when the situation calls for it.

Former Patriots safety Duron Harmon shared a funny story about Belichick during a recent appearance on “The Patriots Podcast” with the Boston Globe’s Christopher Price. Harmon said he and two of his fellow defensive backs, Logan Ryan and Devin McCourty, were battling injuries prior to a preseason game in 2016. Belichick did not feel the injuries were serious enough to hold them out of the exhibition game, and he had a hilarious way of conveying that.

“He’s a jokester. He’s got his days where he likes to joke,” Harmon said, via Nick O’Malley of MLive.com. “I’ll never forget, right before the third preseason game, he brings in a glass container of marshmallows. He sent them into the DB room for me, Dev and Log. It was like, ‘Are you guys gonna be soft or y’all gonna be ready to play this preseason game?’ Because I think we were all coming back from injuries, if I’m not mistaken.”

The three defenders responded well to the challenge. They each had an interception in the game.

“So he was like, ‘Soft, soft, soft.’ I promise you, that preseason game, all three of us had an interception,” Harmon recalled. “We go into halftime, and it’s like ‘Well, I guess you (expletive) boys aren’t soft anymore.’”

There are very few coaches who could get away with calling their players “soft” as they nurse injuries before a preseason game, but Belichick is obviously one of them. The results say it all.