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          New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick provided a robust special teams history lesson

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          Bill Belichick's night of drafting and a dog cameo (1:33)

          Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made five picks on the night and was all over his house -- including having his dog sit in the chair. (1:33)

          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterSep 17, 2021, 09:24 PM
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- On many things, it simply "is what it is" for New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. But not special teams. He loves 'em.

          The most recent example came Friday during his virtual news conference when asked about long-snapper becoming a specialized position.

          Belichick kept going and going and going ... with the final stats broken down like this:

          1,506 words

          9 minutes, 10 seconds

          1 smile

          1 wink

          The answer covered the course of his coaching career (1975 to present), which he called a "long and winding road."

          He mentioned specialists Pete Gogolak, Danny White, Tom Tupa, Gino Cappelletti, Garo Yepremian and Steve DeOssie, among others.

          It was like a History of the Long-Snapper 101 class, covering schematics as they evolved over time.

          That also caught the attention of former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman, who tweeted that winning Super Bowls and talking about special teams are Belichick's favorite things.