Belichick Hires a Martial Arts Master to Coach His D-Line
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Boston Globe – The Patriots continue to look for help with their pass rush, but not with players or traditional football coaches.
The team is hiring martial arts expert Joe Kim as a pass rushing consultant for the 2018 season, a league source told the Globe. Kim, a Cleveland-area Taekwondo master, has worked or consulted for 10 other NFL teams since 1992, most recently with the Browns in 2016.
Kim is reuniting with Bill Belichick, who gave Kim his first football job in 1992 when Belichick was Cleveland’s head coach. Kim also has coached Patriots defensive tackle Danny Shelton, who was a member of the 2016 Browns.
Kim, a former US national team member, will work alongside Patriots defensive line coach Brendan Daly, helping the defenders improve their hand-to-hand combat skills. …
Per the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Belichick discovered Kim in a newspaper article in 1992, and sent pass rushers Michael Dean Perry and Anthony Pleasant to work out with Kim at his gym. A few weeks later, Belichick gave Kim a job on his staff, which he held through the 1995 season.
Talk about life imitating art. First Johnny Lawrence brings back the Cobra Kai Dojo:
Daniel LaRusso brings back the Myagi-do Karate Dojo. And now Master Joe Kim has been brought back to re-open the Belichick Dojo that The Hooded One started back in 1992.
The Patriots pass rush needs help, so it is help they will have. They were middle of the pack in the league in terms of sacks and pressures, but all that is about to change. And one thing is for sure: If Belichick is bringing this guy back, it’s not going to be about learning inner peace, balance and how to defend yourself with the skills you learned buffing classic cars with a chamois. It’s going to be pure Kreese. Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy. We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. Here, in the streets, in competition: A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy. Because fear does not exist in this dojo. Pain does not exist in this dojo. Defeat does not exist in this dojo. They’ll be sweeping offensive linemen’s legs and putting quarterbacks in body bags. As Johnny tells his students in Episode 10 [spoiler]: Life will give you a roundhouse kick to the balls. It will take a shit in your mouth. Life shows no mercy. So the Patriots defensive front 7 will show no mercy.
Like with Johnny and Daniel, everything has come full circle. Sensei Belichick invents a whole new way of coaching, then 25 years and 10 teams later, he brings it back again. Let’s just hope Joe Kim wins us an All Valley Tournament trophy. Because after that debacle against the Eagles, I need this to be a defense, not a knitting class.