When Bill Belichick started his new gig as a commentator on “Inside the NFL” recently, he pointed out an interesting fact about his first game as an assistant coach with the Baltimore Colts in 1975.
It was a game against the Chicago Bears, and Walter Payton made his debut in the same game. So a Hall of Fame running back and a future Hall of Fame coach made their debuts in the same game. Payton struggled in the opener with no yards in eight carries and a one catch for a four yard loss.
It was an example that even the best of rookies sometimes don’t get off to a good start.
They also showed clips of Payton making some good runs in the College All-Star game against the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers a year before the game was discontinued. On one play, he was one-on-one with No. 58 of the Steelers, who overran him while Payton cut the other way for a nice gain. They didn’t identify No. 58, although Chad Johnson said he was the man with no teeth. Of course, No. 58 was Jack Lambert.
The Bears played Pittsburgh that year in the regular season and the coaches held out Payton with a minor injury. The Bears knew they had no chance against the Steeler and didn’t want Payton to risk further injury. After the game, a writer told Payton that Jim Brown never missed a game. Payton never missed another start.
Here are some other tidbits about NFL openers:
–The Saints have won their last five openers.
–Of active coaches, Andy Reid has won the most openers with a 17-4 mark after Thursday’s 27-20 win over the Ravens.
–Jim Harbaugh returns to the NFL with a 4-0 mark in openers. Nick Sirianni is 3-0 in openers and Mike McDaniel is 33-0.
–O.J. Simpson owns the rushing record for openers with250 yards in 1973.
–Norm Van Brocklin owns the passing yardage record for openers with 554 yards in 1951.
–Three rookie quarterbacks — Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix — will start their first games.
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