Playing for Bill Belichick can be a scary thought for some NFL players. Former New England Patriots offensive lineman Rich Orenberger once went to extreme lengths to make sure he didn’t end up on Belichick’s bad side.
good Hartman and Rich O’Shoe On XTRA 1360, Orenberger said he stayed up late one day for a team meeting. Immediately, Ohrnberger knew he was in trouble.
“You don’t want to be the guy walking into a squad meeting and Bill Belichick and the rest of the team look at you,” Orenberger said.
After gathering everything he needed for the day, Orenberger shot out the door and into his car, but he still knew he would be late for the meeting. It was at this point that Orenberger became increasingly concerned about his place on the roster, and it led him to deliberately rear-end a church van to create an excuse for himself.
“I have this sinking feeling in my stomach like I’m going to get cut,” Orenberger said. “He won’t let me be on that football team tomorrow. What am I going to do? I’m going down the slight incline that takes you to the right that I have to go to the stadium for a morning meeting.
“I see a church van in front of me with everything ripped apart. It’s got black smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. I’m like, ‘I’m going to hit this car.’ I’m gonna rear-end that car. I’m gonna hit that car because it’s better to pay the insurance or rip this guy a couple hundred bucks than be embarrassed for being late to that Patriots team meeting. Man, Which was like a few minutes at 100 years old anyway.”
Orenberger said he immediately felt bad when the man got out of the van and tried to apologize to him. Eventually, Orenberger arrived at the facility and spoke with Bill Belichick’s assistant, who was none too pleased. Orenberger was then moved into the offensive line room, and his position coach wasn’t fooled by his role.
“The first one I had there was Dante Scarnicchia, who was my offensive line coach,” Orenberger said. “He goes, ‘How’s it going, Speed Racer?’ I was like, ‘What is that?’ They say, ‘Running a little late this morning?’ I was like, ‘Dante, I’ve had an accident.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those things might fly at IBM if you’re one of those geeks working on computers and stuff. Those things don’t work here. You come on time from now on’.
Orenberger played three seasons with the Patriots and spent three more years in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers.