Bill Belichick jokes Lombardi Trophy should be renamed after Tom Brady
The NFL team that wins the Super Bowl at the end of the season is handed the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Lombardi was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers when he led the team to two straight victories over the American Football League champions – the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders, respectively. It wasn't until the third NFL-AFL championship game that the term Super Bowl was used.
Lombardi's Packers were one of the most dominant teams of the era. He had led Green Bay to three other NFL championships before the idea of an NFL vs. AFL was conceived.
Because of the history, the Super Bowl trophy was named after Lombardi. It's one of the most prestigious trophies in sports, next to Lord Stanley's Cup and the FIFA World Cup Trophy.
Legendary head coach Bill Belichick discussed the Super Bowl with Jim Gray on the "Let's Go!" podcast. He told Gray it was the players who really deserve the credit for the Super Bowl victory. The legendary sportscaster reminded Belichick that it was Lombardi who the trophy was named for and not Bart Starr, who was the MVP of the first two games.
"Maybe they should name it the Brady Trophy," Belichick joked, referencing New England Patriots legend Tom Brady. "He won seven of them."
Belichick said teams can't win without good players. He said he learned that when he was a defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants and when he helped put together a tremendous Hall of Fame defense with the Patriots.
"You can't win games without good players. I don't care who the coach is. It's impossible. You can't win without good players," he said. "I found that out when I had (Lawrence) Taylor, (Carl) Banks, Harry Carson, Jim Burt, Everson Walls, all those guys with the Giants.
"Same thing when we got good at Cleveland and at New England it's (Willie) McGinest, it's (Mike) Vrabel, it's (Tedy) Bruschi, it's Corey Dillon, it's Randy Moss, Troy Brown, Lawyer Malloy, Ty Law, Rodney Harrison. Those are guys that won the games, man. I didn't make any tackles. I didn't make any kicks. That was (Adam) Vinatieri, made that kick in four inches of snow."
Brady and Belichick won six Super Bowl titles together with the Patriots. The star quarterback then won one more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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