Bill Belichick has seen a lot in his 40-plus years in the NFL. Even more as a life-long fan and historian of the game.
The Patriots boss also isn't generally prone to undue praise or exaggerative comparisons when talking about stars from opposing teams. Sure he may tell you each week what the other team's key players are capable of doing, but won't go so far as to compare them to Hall of Fame predecessors.
But that's exactly what he did Tuesday morning in a conference call with the New England media when he was asked about Seahawks athletic, talented, young quarterback Russell Wilson.
"There's just something, I can't really put it into words," Belichick said when describing Wilson's running ability and athleticism. "Wilson's just got an instinctiveness. He just knows where people are. It looks like he's going to get tackled and he doesn't. It kind of reminds of watching [Roger] Staubach. You think he doesn't see them, but he sees them or somehow he just knows they're there.
"He's got an uncanny sense of awareness of what's around him – good or bad. I don't know how you – I can't really define it. I don't know how you coach it; it's just an awareness that all great players have it. All good players have it. I think he just has it at a higher level. It's really impressive."
Obviously with Belichick comparing the third-year quarterback to the Cowboys Super Bowl-winning playmaker and all-time great, the coach was asked to expand on the praiseful comparison.
"It's just the way I remember a lot of Staubach's spectacular running plays where it looked like he was about to get tackled by three or four guys and he would Houdini it out of there somehow. Wilson did some of the same things," Belichick said.
And the coach will spent the next two weeks making sure that Wilson isn't able to make any magic happen against the Patriots defense in Super Bowl XLIX.
