Pick your sides now, because it appears that in the 2012 NFL season, we will see a nuclear war between the Belichick coaching tree and the Harbaugh brothers.
Everyone remembers last season’s incident when 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh left a pink hand print on the small of Lions head coach Jim Schwartz’ back:
Tuesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh made waves with a few controversial comments regarding the legitimacy of the Patriots three Super Bowl titles. He told 98 Rock Radio in Baltimore, when asked about the Saints bounty situation:
“In the end everything is brought before the light of day when it’s all said and done. So what happens is, even the thing in New England and the thing … No matter whether those things had any impact on whether they won their championships or not, they got asterisks now. It’s been stained. So to me (cheating) never worth it.”
Former Jets head coach and Patriots assistant Eric Mangini, “disagreed” with Harbaugh’s comments during a segment on ESPN Tuesday. Of course, Mangini was the smoking gun to “SpyGate” in 2007.
Mangini and Belichick’s relationship has been rocky at best since the incident, although Mangini seems to praise his former mentor whenever possible on ESPN.
Belichick placed a recommendation to Ravens ownership to help John Harbaugh land his job in Baltimore, so that relationship could certainly go south in a hurry. It certainly seems Belichick doesn’t mind holding grudges.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that Schwartz is a Belichick disciple.
Schwartz was originally hired by Belichick as a scout and researcher while Belichick was with the Browns in the early 1990s.Belichick wanted to hire Schwartz to be an assistant on the Patriots but then-Titans coach Jeff Fisher blocked the move due to Schwartz’ up-and-coming stature in the league during the early 2000s.
Here are the Patriots records since the cameras were taken away:
2007: 16-0
2008: 11-5
2009: 10-6
2010: 14-2
2011: 13-3
Playoff record: 4-4
