Jim Schwartz not falling into Bill Belichick’s praise trap
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — If Bill Belichick were fishing, Jim Schwartz did not take the bait.
Belichick back in 1993 gave Schwartz his NFL start, hiring him as an unpaid intern with the Browns. On Sunday, 25 years later, Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots will try to score enough points to win Super Bowl LII against an Eagles’ defense coordinated by Schwartz.
“I can’t say enough good things about Jim Schwartz,” Belichick said this week. “He’s one of the smartest people I know. A good, good football coach. I couldn’t say a bad thing about Jim Schwartz.”
Anyone who has been around Schwartz, 51, during his long and winding coaching journey knows he wears a scowl more often than not and does not take kindly to praise, purposeful or otherwise.
Informed Belichick was effusive of his intelligence, Schwartz’s reaction was a non-reaction.
“Yeah, I’m not going to be on the field on Sunday,” he said. “We need our players to be smart. I like our group that way. We don’t make a whole lot of mistakes. It’s going to be Tom Brady and their offense matching wits with [Eagles safety] Malcolm Jenkins and our defense. It’s not going to be who’s been inducted into the Mensa society or anything like that.”
After a pause, Schwartz looked up and, with a half-smirk, added: “I deflected that one well, I think.”
For the Eagles (zero Super Bowl victories) to have a shot at upsetting the Patriots (five Super Bowl victories), Schwartz is going to need one heck of a defensive game plan. Stay the course might be a smart approach. The Eagles have held four straight opponents to 10 or fewer points, including playoff victories over the Falcons (15-10) and Vikings (38-7). The last time the Birds were this unyielding in allowing points was way back in 1974, and the previous NFL team to allow 10 or fewer points in four or more consecutive games was Denver in 2009.
Sure, Schwartz is smart — he earned a degree in economics from Georgetown — and once was a riser. He served as head coach of the Lions for five years, going 29-51 with one playoff appearance, a loss. There is a desire once again to become a head coach.
“Over the last years, I think I’ve always done a pretty good job of being in the moment and trying to do a good job with the job that I have, whether it was filing papers or being a quality-control coach or being a position coach,” Schwartz said.
Early in the process during this hiring cycle, Schwartz was linked to the Giants, who officially asked the Eagles permission for an interview. A scheduling issue arose. The next available window for the Giants to meet with Schwartz was after the NFC Championship. By then, the Giants already had decided on Pat Shurmur as their new head coach.
“I’ll just keep my questions to the Eagles and Patriots,” Schwartz said of not interviewing with the Giants.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson is a former quarterback and the offensive play-caller, so the defense is totally Schwartz’s domain. The Eagles rotate eight defensive linemen, keeping the starters fresh, and the defense morphed from a liability earlier in the season into a unit that is the main reason the Eagles are seen as a legitimate threat to prevent the Patriots from hoisting a sixth Lombardi Trophy.
“Coach Schwartz is going to have a great game plan for us,” defensive end Vinny Curry said.
Schwartz, looking back on his time working for Belichick on a Browns staff that included Nick Saban, Eric Mangini and Kirk Ferentz, said:
“We all owe it to Bill Belichick. He shaped everyone’s career. We’re all better at our jobs because of the program Bill had in place.”
Schwartz made it to a Super Bowl after the 1999 season as an assistant with the Titans. He is back again, looking to beat the man who gave him his start in the business.
“I’ve always been the kind of guy to do a good job with what I’m doing,” Schwartz said. “I know this: I wouldn’t trade this run we’ve made for anything. Our ultimate goal — I’ve been 25 years in the NFL, I’ve been to the playoffs, I’ve been to the Super Bowl, I’ve been a head coach — I’ve never won a Super Bowl. I’m gonna stay in this moment and enjoy this and concentrate all of our efforts on that.”