Playing for Bill Belichick can be a daunting thought for some NFL players. Former New England Patriots offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger once went to great lengths to make sure he didn’t end up on Belichick’s bad side.
On The Hartman and Rich O Show on XTRA 1360, Ohrnberger said he woke up late for a team meeting one day. Instantly, Ohrnberger knew he was in trouble.
“You don’t want to be the guy who walks into a team meeting and Bill Belichick and the rest of the team are staring at you,” Ohrnberger said.
After frantically gathering everything he needed for the day, Ohrnberger shot out the door and into his car, but he still knew he was going to be late for the meeting. It was then that Ohrnberger became concerned about his place on the list, which led him to intentionally stop a church van in order to create an excuse for himself.
“I have this sinking feeling in my stomach like I’m going to cut myself,” Ohrnberger said. “He’s not going to get me on this football team tomorrow. What do I do? I’m going down this slight sloping hill that takes you to this straight line that I have to take to get to the stadium for the morning meeting.
“I see a church van in front of me that’s all dirty. There’s black smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I’m like, ‘I’m going to hit that car.’ I’m gonna crash into that car, I’m gonna hit that car because it’s better to pay the insurance or take a few hundred bucks out of that guy than embarrass myself for being late to that Patriots team meeting. I rammed this poor old man, who by the way, was minutes away from turning 100.”
Ohrnberger said he immediately felt bad when the man got out of the van and tried to apologize to him. Eventually, Ohrnberger arrived at the facility and spoke with Bill Belichick’s assistant, who was not very pleased with him. Ohrnberger was then directed to the offensive line room, and his position coach was not fooled by his charade.
“The first was Dante Scarnecchia, my offensive line coach,” Ohrnberger said. “He says, ‘How are you, sprinter?’ I was like, ‘What is this?’ He said, ‘Are you a little late this morning?’ I was like, ‘Dante, I had an accident.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. This stuff can fly at IBM if you’re one of those geeks who work on computers and stuff. This stuff doesn’t work here. You’ll be on time from now on.’ ‘”
Ohrnberger played three seasons with the Patriots and spent three more years in the NFL between the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers.