Cleveland Browns: What Bill Belichick did for Tom Brady that he didn’t for Bernie Kosar

Tom Brady is one of the best at taking a sack, but former Cleveland Browns QB Bernie Kosar got hit harder

Tom Brady’s career will be forever connected to coach Bill Belichick, but don’t forget that Belichick’s first gig as a head coach was with the Cleveland Browns, and his first starting quarterback was Bernie Kosar, who in many ways was remarkably similar to Brady. Bernie and Brady were both tall (6-5 versus 6-4), highly intelligent, strong-armed, and extremely accurate passers.

Neither, however, was blessed with blazing speed. Yet while Brady has been the most incredible iron man the NFL has ever seen at the position, Kosar’s career was cut short by the pounding he took under Belichick and his predecessor, Marty Schottenheimer. What was the difference?

Part of it, of course, is the rule changes, which has undeniably made the job easier, but part of it is learning how to take the sack when the defense is closing in on you.

Kosar’s style of play was self-destructive because of his ferocious desire to win, and he was too tough for his own good. He refused to go down and was willing to take massive hits from opposing defenders. He was rugged enough to usually hold onto the ball, but by his own count, he received at least 12 concussions and probably many more. In those days, the players just played through those things.

One of the toughest days for Browns fans (other than losing the franchise on November 6, 1995), was November 8, 1993, when Belichick announced that Bernie Kosar was cut from the team. The infamous words from coach Belichick still sting. “Basically, it came down to his production and a diminishing of his physical skills.”

Fans still hurt for Kosar after all these years and are still mad at Belichick.  The assumption is that the surly young punk coach just did not care. However, underneath his surly demeanor, Belichick was probably not very happy about it either, if for no other reason than the quarterback is a valuable commodity, and it hurts to lose one.

Much of the wear and tear to Kosar’s body had occurred in the tenure of Marty Schottenheimer, but that’s actually beside the point. Belichick had to ponder whether changes to the team’s system might have been able to prolong Kosar’s career. Kosar was just shy of his 30th birthday, which is far too young to be let go like that.

In interviews these days, Kosar himself admits that, physically, he was just not his former self by 1993. Coach Belichick was right. What had gotten Bernie to the NFL was the ability to throw deep with incredible accuracy, although by the late 1980s he was slinging it sidearm and really doing as much with his head smarts as with his athletic ability. Under Belichick, he was only 11-18, and it was abundantly clear that Vinny Testaverde was the more talented quarterback at that point.