Kliff Kingsbury never gave the impression in a regular-season game for the New England Patriots, but left his season at Foxboro with two things he will appreciate:
1. A Super Bowl ring, which he won after the Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, and . . .
2. A reserve brimming with wisdom about football.
“I learned more football than probably anywhere in my life there,” Kingsbury, now head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, said at a conference call with New England Reporters. “So I’ve had great respect for this organization and those men. “
The Patriots selected Kingsbury in the sixth circular of the 2003 NFL Draft, adding him to a quarterback intensity tie with Tom Brady, Damon Huard and Rohan Davey. Kingsbury had set dozens of records for Texas Tech, but New England used his brain more than his arm.
While Huard and Davey served as Brady’s replacements, Kingsbury, who spent his entire rookie season in the injured reserve, served as a pseudo-quality coach, completing assigned “projects” through head coach Bill Belichick and his team that included the breakdown of the next opponent. Film.
“Kliff’s a smart guy, ” said Belichick this week. ” I had a very football experience. He played a different taste of attack than we had here, but very willing to learn. I did a lot more things, I learned our offense, I studied film, I studied rival defenses, I learned a lot about football.
“He made plans for us and things like that. He’s very wise in that, and you can say he was smart and understood the game, he understood the concepts. He’s not a guy you had to say something to more than once, and he learned a lot of things on his own. So it’s very, very wise to have him on the team and paint with him.
The Kingbury Patriots’ tenure was short-lived (he returned to education in 2004 but was released in the last cuts) and his playing career was not much longer. He continued to record seasons with the New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. , however, he gave the impression in only one NFL game for the Jets in 2006 (1 of 2,17 yards).
After spending the 2007 season as the third Canadian Football League player, he retired and temporarily went into practice, joining University of Houston staff as a quality coach.
“(The Patriots) gave me a chance, and I didn’t play at the point I needed when I had my chances, and I knew it,” Kingsbury said. “So I went in a very clever position. I still have sex with a lot of those guys who stayed in this building – Nick Caserio comes to mind – and they’ve treated me first class.
He also forged connections with Belichick, who was inspired by Kingsbury’s intelligence and pictorial ethics as a young professional. Kingsbury visited the Patriots practice while a head coach at Texas Tech, and when his alma mater fired him after the 2018 season, Belichick came over to offer his support.
“It meant a lot to me,” said the 41-year-old, who also exchanged text messages with Belichick last off season.
Now in his time of season as nfl head coach, Kingsbury continues to apply the classes he learned under belichick, the main one of them: the preparation class.
“Coach Belichick had you ready for any scenario that might take place on a football field,” he said. “Sometimes he seemed tedious with step-by-step procedures and you almost felt he was doing too much, but in week 8, he would appear a genuine scenario, and you’d be ready and the whole team would handle it and find a way to win the game.
“Then, more than anything, I would just say that preparation (in New England) at a point I had never noticed before. “
Kingsbury will apply the opposing classes to his former team this week. Cardinals 6-4, led by thrilling sophomore Kyler Murray, are scheduled to make a stopover at Gillette Stadium on Sunday for a 4-6 Patriots reunion.