FOR BELICHICK, WALLS
doing it as long as you can do it effectively.’”
Walls understood, but there was an unrelated teaching moment later that season. And it is funny to Walls in hindsight.
The Giants’ top-ranked scoring defense was so stingy that Walls could have been picking daisies during many of those snaps at safety, as linebacker Lawrence Taylor — a four-time Defensive Player of the Year and one of just two defenders (Alan Page) to be named NFL MVP — led a front chocked full of dominating pass rushers. And apparently, the boredom in the backfield was showing up on film, so Belichick summoned Walls to his office.
“At one point, I had nothing to do in that secondary when I played safety on third downs,” Walls said. “There was nothing to do. I almost got bored out there because that front seven was so freaking amazing. They were handling business and it was amazing to watch. Sometimes I found myself doing just that — watching. Parcells or Belichick must have seen it, and Belichick called me into his office. He goes, ‘Hey man, (Parcells) said you aren’t doing your job.’ I’m like, ‘There’s nothing to do, Bill! These guys are killing it!’ He threw up his hands like, ‘I don’t want to hear it. I’m just telling you what the man said. I don’t (care) what you do. You better run to the pile faster. You better jump on the pile or something, but you better act like you’re doing more.’”
Highlight-reel play
Walls struck fear in quarterbacks but lacked tackling ability upon his arrival to the Giants, so Belichick pridefully recalled his most important play with Big Blue. And it’s because Walls worked so hard to improve that area.
The Giants’ lighter personnel packages in Super Bowl XXV were geared to mitigate Jim Kelly’s passing prowess, and they essentially conceded production to running back Thurman Thomas. But Thomas almost beat them on the final drive before Walls’ openfield tackle saved a potential touchdown before Scott Norwood’s pivotal missed field goal.
“That was the play of the game, the play of the year,” Belichick said. “We wouldn’t have won if he didn’t make that tackle. That was the kind of play that I would say when we first started, I wouldn’t have been sure he would have made. But he worked hard.
“That was the play that I would say highlighted his whole career with the Giants because of the magnitude of the play, a running play and on their best player at the most critical time in the game, and he made it. That was his signature play with the Giants. And not one you would have expected. It would have been an interception, last play of the drive or game or whatever. To me, it was that tackle on Thurman Thomas. It was such a crucial play, and he made a really good one at the most critical time.”
Walls spent the final 17 games of his career with Belichick’s Browns in 1992-93, and he got another feel for Belichick’s authoritative vibe in his first stint as a head coach. Belichick employed Ron Springs, who was one of Walls’ closest friends, as a coaching consultant, so Walls got the scoop on the staff.
Belichick has always been known to watch film or study his opponent while exercising on the treadmill, a practice he still follows today. To that point, Walls was leery of sharing this last story.
“Bill looks like he’s been working out and ready to kick somebody’s (butt) every time I see him,” Walls said. “I’ve never seen anybody work out on the treadmill and watch film.”
So every day, even when practice was over and meetings had ended, the coaches never left the building until Belichick was set to leave. And that meant they’d all listen to the thumping on the treadmill for however long it took.
“Ron liked to get his drink on,” Walls said of Springs. “We’re sitting in the meeting room not doing anything. Ron says, ‘Let’s go have a drink.’ Everybody is like, ‘Man, we’re not leaving until Bill is leaving.’ You can hear Bill on the treadmill, and no one would leave before Bill left the office, and no one did. So Ron had to go
have drinks by himself. That always amazed him at how afraid they were of Belichick. Ron Springs always thought that was the most amazing thing ever, how a man as small as Belichick could carry such weight.”
Belichick’s way has held true for decades, for players before Walls and in the generations since. So even when Belichick has gone against conventional thinking with a unique decision, remember the past examples that led to the present ideas, even if they’re a quarter-century old.
Walls will never forget them.
‘That was Belichick. That was all him. Parcells always thought I would be no better than a backup. . .’ — EVERSON WALLS (left) On Bill Belichick’s vision of a hybrid role for him