Image courtesy of the New England Patriots

One of the most well known phrases used by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick throughout his time with the organization has been “availability is the best ability.”

On Sunday afternoon, Belichick coached in his 400th game here in New England, continuing to lead by example when it comes to that statement. To put it in perspective, former Dolphins head coach Don Shula coached in 490 regular season games total during his career. On Monday morning, I asked Belichick if maintaining that longevity in one place is something he took pride in.

“Absolutely, sure,” he said. “Going all the way back, it was a great opportunity to be here in ’96 and then Robert (Kraft) gave up a lot – it was hard to hire me in 2000, he gave up a lot in the trade with the Jets and all that – for me to come here. So, that in itself was a great level of commitment and a blessing for me to have this opportunity…it’s worked out pretty well since then all the way around. So, hopefully we can continue to improve and keep it going.”

As you’d expect, Belichick wasn’t aware of the 400 game milestone. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?

“I didn’t realize that, thanks for giving me that number,” he said with a big grin. “I didn’t realize it had been 400. It doesn’t seem like that.”

Belichick quickly shifted the conversation to many of the great players he’s been able to work with throughout his tenure here.

“It’s been just awesome to see so many players and coaches come through here, come in as rookies, grow, develop into great players, have great careers,” he added. “We’ve had a couple of the Hall of Fame inductions the last couple years with Seymour and Wilfork and guys like that. Of course, there were the other ones like Troy (brown) and Kevin Faulk and those players that were already here when I got here. Ty (Law), guys like that, Mayo, all those guys that came in and were here and then many of them now.

“(Matthew) Slater, (Devin) McCourty, people like that, you just watch them come in as rookies and start from scratch and then develop and grow into some of the greatest players in Patriots history and some of the greatest players of all time. Certainly (Tom) Brady and (Matthew) Slater will go down in that that category at their positions and for the game.”

Belichick usually always has his attention on the next task at hand, but surprisingly acknowledged that he does reflect on many of the coaches and other staff members he’s gotten to work with over the years as well.

“Yeah, it’s been an incredible number of years and same thing with the coaches,” he said. “All the coaches that have come in here and have gone from quality control assistants all the way up the ladder to coordinators and head coaches and other places in the league. I think back on that every once in a while and just kind of say ‘wow, I’ve been so fortunate to be able to work with so many great, great people.’ Great coaches, great players, great people in the organization, personnel department; Scott (Pioli), Nick (Caserio), I mean, I could go on here for days.”

In typical Bill Belichick fashion, he soon cut off his train of thought and acknowledged that it was probably time to get back to work ahead of game No. 401 in Cleveland next Sunday.

“Thanks for bringing it up, it’s good to kind of reflect on it, but you’re right, it’s probably time for me to start thinking about Cleveland,” he added with one final smile.