The First Bill Belichick: Paul Brown's Legacy | NFL

Paul Brown's legacy lives on through two professional football teams, multiple inventions and innovations, and proteges such as legendary coaches Bill Walsh and Don Shula. He was the first to put plays down on paper and have players study it, he invented the draw play, the timed 40-yard dash , and put someone upstairs with a line down the sideline, and forever changed the face of coaching and the NFL.
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[@JSSTyger]

Paul Brown was the godfather of football coaches. Did you just hear that CHUCK KNOLL played for him? So did DON SHULA. BILL WALSH was an assistant under Brown when he was the coach of the Bengals. PAUL Brown mentored THREE of the greatest coaches of all time!

[@truththatlies]

Damn i didn't know that. Thank you! Now i have a different opinion about paul brown

[@chriscampbell3817]

The goat. Literally invented football as we know it

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

The great Chuck Noll served as one of Paul Brown's "messenger guards" during the heyday of the 50's. Noll learned the Paul Brown system and heard the many, many stories of the various WWII veterans who survived to play in the NFL. Noll likely built his style of coaching from the Brown system which was built on the dogged, longsuffering play of those WWII vets who played hurt ---- taking that to Pittsburgh and building a dynasty.

[@luisbenitez8524]

Bill walsh made the west coast offense by his own and then brown tried so hard to keep him away from being a head coach

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

​@@luisbenitez8524 Although your correct that Brown not only gave a bad rep to those teams actively scouting Walsh for a head coaching position (Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago) the West Coast Offense, as Bill Walsh states in George Cantor's book on Paul Brown, is really the Ohio River Offense started by Brown, later revised and refined by Walsh. The NFL has propagandized creative terms like " West Coast Offense " as a creative means to marginalize Brown's achievements in the short and long passing games, passing routes, timed passing routes and a dozen other innovations they grudgingly assent to.

[@brycesquints5196]

Paul brown is the greatest coach of all time

[@xman777b]

yes he is. And this is from someone named after Lombardi

[@SanFranFan30]

Here are some fun stats: Paul Brown and his extended coaching tree/forest are responsible for: 10 NFL championships (pre-SB era, 7 of which were his own) 7 National Championships 41 Superbowls (including the last 23 straight): 3 from the Raiders can be debated, but he gave Weeb Eubank a Job who gave Al Davis his first NFL gig, who hired John Madden(2) and Tom Flores(1) 11 of the other ones have Strong College connections in Oklahoma/Arkansas and/or Sid Gillman Connections (Joe Gibbs(3), Jimmy Johnson(2), Barry Switzer(1)) or are a part of the Jim Lee Howell Tree (Tom Landry(2), Vince Lombardi (2), Mike Ditka (1)) And then there is Hank Stram(1) who had literally no connections to any previous great football coach, he basically became a head coach because he was a teammate and a friend of the new owner of the Cheifs Current Coaches who are a part of his extended tree: Literally everyone but Kliff Kingsbury

[@RyansGoProChronicales]

should be called the paul brown trophy not the vince lombardi trophy

[@joshuabalondo4454]

Brown ain't a SB winner. Vince Lombardi had 2 SB champions for the Packers but Brown had none.

[@patrickolaughlin6027]

@@joshuabalondo4454 Believe it or not , there was Pro Football before the SB era. Brown won more Championships than Lombardi , including a Natty at Ohio State. He also started 2 franchises in the NFL , the Browns and the Bengals. Brown > Lombardi .

[@averagefella]

@@patrickolaughlin6027 didn't the original founder name the team the Browns because of Paul? I used to think Paul Brown founded them as well

[@patrickolaughlin6027]

@@averagefella You're right , I just read that the owner had a fan vote to pick the name and Paul got the most votes.

[@averagefella]

@@patrickolaughlin6027 That's right, I forgot it was up to the fans lol. I know for sure that Paul was against the name

[@jgrj52]

Paul Brown, Weeb Eubank, Chuck Noll, and Don Shula on one team at the same time. That is incredible

[@ryanmurphy2588]

Weeb Ewbank, Bud Grant, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, and Bill Walsh all either Played or Coach under Paul Brown. Excellent Coaching Tree and Much Respect to Paul Brown, he was 70 years ahead of his time.

[@MGB18]

Belechick refers to the great Paul Brown as The Father of Modern Football. I think the NFL Championship trophy should be called the Paul Brown Trophy.

[@SanFranFan30]

too bad that the Super Bowl wasn't around in his hay day

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

AGREED. The NFL has repaid Paul Brown with thundering silence. Except for a few NFL FILM tributes, his Hall of Fame enshrinement and the occassional NFL commentator agitprop the league has continued to quietly forget the Father of Modern Football.

[@MGB18]

@@SanFranFan30: The term "Super Bowl" is just a fancy name for World Championship, and nothing more. Paul Brown is a 7 X World Champion HC. That's two more than Vince Lombardi.

[@MGB18]

@@thepaulbrownshow3206: The NFL definitely gave Paul Brown the shaft! Paul Brown introduced many innovations into Pro American football. Many innovations that Vince Lombardi copied. lol.

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

@@MGB18 Agreed. Just a few of Brown's innovations: Position coaches, plays from the sideline, zone pass defense, sports booster clubs, timed 40 yd dash, QB radio helmet, team playbook, face masks, team classroom education, taxi squad, use of game film, creation of the draw play, QB pocket (moving pocket), use of IQ tests.

[@stevefowler2112]

Not surprising that Chuck Knoll and Don Shula both played for Paul Brown...that's the best coaching tree ever.

[@Erndogg12]

Steve Fowler Weeb Eubank was no slouch himself

[@ExcuseMyFr3nch]

Cleveland Browns the greatest team in American football history and by far the greatest coach.

[@Huseipot12]

wow i never heard of this great man ,props to paul brown

[@mikeyoungblood1642]

Paul Brown is and will forever be the GREATEST Coach in Football History! Bill Belichick is 2nd behind him but even if the Patriots won 3 more super bowls, Brown is still gonna be #1

[@joelp5093]

Nearly his entire coaching career happened before the super bowl era. He won 4 AAFC championships (precursor to the AFL - he won it every year the league was in operation), 3 NFL championships, and even a CFB national championship coaching Ohio State

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

1. Paul Brown 2. Vince Lombardi 3. Chuck Noll 4. Don Shula 5. Tom Landry

[@mikeyoungblood1642]

@@thepaulbrownshow3206 You realize Lombardi didn’t draft 90% of that Packers dynasty though right? and he only was HC for 10 seasons…and he was more inventive as the OC of the Giants. Also WTF is George Halas and Bill Walsh? I love Chuck Noll, but once Bradshaw was forced to retire in 1983, the Steelers were an average to below average team until Noll retired in 1992. Bill Belichick built the Browns into contenders before Art Modell blew up the 1995 season and has has only 3 below .500 years out of 23 in New England

[@Johnflugelhorn]

Amazing information about the innovations of the Greatest NFL coach of all time , Paul Brown ! Coach Brown changed NFL fotball !

[@grapes481]

Both Belichick and Paul Brown where head coaches in Cleveland

[@madden1876]

I love da bengals and Paul brown made them Paul brown will always be remembered as one of the best nfl coaches of all time and they named the stadium after him. WHO DEY

[@SM-ys8lw]

well, the browns had him as a coach, the bengals had him as an owner

[@furnitureconsortium]

@@SM-ys8lw Paul brown was the first HC of the Bengals for their first seven seasons. He was past his prime though and promptly retired after the 1975 season and just ran things from the press box after that. The only flaws that Brown had were his resistance to changing times and strategies in the 60’s and 70’s and his near-dictatorial need to control absolutely everything in the organizational side of the football team…..it was the reason Art Modell fired him in Cleveland.

[@ZEKEDAWG23]

The facemask was only one of the things Paul Brown invented he was the first coach to use rotating guards to bring in plays and the first coach to use a speaker in the quarterbacks helmet to Call plays in on the radio the only problem was that they would pick up the local taxi cab broadcast sometimes and the NFL eventually disallowed the Browns from doing that because it was a competitive advantage that no other teams were able to duplicate these are only a couple of the things Paul Brown did before anybody else Bill Belichick however was the first coach to send camera crews in to an opponents training facility to spy on them when they had reasonable expectation of privacy he was also one of the first coaches to deflate footballs just enough so the quarterback could get his fingers around the ball in cold weather these are the legacies of two men that should never be compared

[@Natedaagreaatt]

Facts

[@vitreo1363]

So Paul Brown was accused of ruining football with his inventions... just like Belichick is accused of ruining football with his innovations.

[@vitreo1363]

***** yup... Butthurt losers complaining because they got beat by a smarter coach... The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@the7A7dude]

+Sean Legghette cheaters

[@vitreo1363]

***** Belichick didn't do anything against the rules either. Rules were changed to make those things illegal, but they weren't when he did them. So, no.

[@vitreo1363]

***** This is just a case of you running with the narrative you like to hear because it makes it easier to swallow the fact that the Patriots are beating your team. Belichick has never tampered with headsets. It is well known that headsets were going out for ALL teams in ALL the stadiums...but it's just more convenient to whine about it when it does happens in NE, so you can continue feeding the idea that the Patriots have something to do with it. When it happens elsewhere...nobody gives a damn.

[@vitreo1363]

***** No, I just refuse to take all the baggage you wanna add on top of that...if you wanna call a hold "cheating", then yes, by that definition the Patriots cheat. But you come in accusing the Pats of illegal videotaping and of screwing with ball pressure (despite the lack of evidence), then NO, I won't claim they did something they didn't do.

[@Mvproszn]

Whether it is the West Coast offense, No Huddle offense, stripes on the unis, radio helmets, or touchdown celebrations, Bengals football is rooted in being a game changer so much so that it's not the same game, it's a different game.

[@MsALI201]

why is he the first bill beilchick .. beilchick didst invent shit

[@mikeyoungblood1642]

Paul Brown invented the modern HC/GM position. Don’t give me any “it was the AAFC” stuff cause when the Browns moved to the NFL in 1950, they embarrassed the 1948 & 1949 NFL Champion Eagles on their way to the 1950 NFL Title

[@coachfreddiej]

Really the goat

[@amandajones3741]

Whooooooooo Deyyyyyyyyyyy 🧡🏈

[@nesseihtgnay9419]

Paul brown did all these things and changed all these things. the first coach to use film to study other teams. and how come he's not called a "cheater" huh?

[@nesseihtgnay9419]

Tyler Sapoznik cheater are the ones who broke the rules. paul and bill simply changed how the game is played and if you haven't notice, they both used the changes that the nfl didnt have on rules yet, so hows that cheating when there was no rules over it yet?

[@licensedblockhead]

2:29 They hate us cus they ain't us -paul brown

[@yee2urhaw246]

I'd watch a movie about him fr

[@thetruth4808]

God of Football

[@broadstreet21]

If Ernie Davis lived, Brown might still have kept his job after 1962, won NFL championships from 62 through 64, then won the first superbowl.

[@nobodyaskedbut]

The owners would have never allowed PB to coach in the super bowl because of PB's Browns domination of the NFL would have been exposed to a largely un-knowing public.

[@broadstreet21]

@@nobodyaskedbut It would have been blasphemous not to let Brown coach the superbowl, which ought to have been named after him had he won one or two.

[@nobodyaskedbut]

@@broadstreet21 In the old line owner families mind the NFL rep in those 1st super bowls had to be an old established NFL team like GB, NY, Chi to prevent talk of a new league team beating them the way the Browns did. The NFL not recognizing TO THIS DAY the stats & history of the AAFC tells you all you have to know about the attitude they still have towards PB & the Browns.

[@kenp7814]

"The First Bill Belichick"? Bill wishes

[@stevefowler2112]

Cris Collinsworth was my H.S. QB...Astronaut H.S. Titusville Fl., '76

[@CaspyWaspy]

Thanks Paul Brown, appreciate the 3 super bowl wins. Sincerely a 49er fan.

[@aariesharris7894]

lol

[@aariesharris7894]

he was too damn stubborn

[@pp3k3jamail]

3... you mean two.

[@aariesharris7894]

MICOLE WHYTE 3 because he gave us Bill Walsh

[@marvelousrex2866]

An interesting addition to that is the famous "The Catch" play of Montana to Clark was the "Sprint Right Option" play that Brown created in 50's with the Browns.

[@MrMark401]

So what was the Browns logo before the face mask helmet logo

[@Ryanh93493]

www.sportslogos.net/logos/list_by_team/155/Cleveland_Browns/ Here it is

[@charliewilliams4239]

Let's sneak Modell in the backdoor of the HOF

[@hydronoid7812]

Really the title should be "great coaches in NFL history" or something like that, it makes no sense to call him the first Bill Belichick

[@lityigimi5196]

W

[@vitreo1363]

That's because Belichick comes up with unconventional solutions to problems, just like Paul Brown.

[@hydronoid7812]

+Vitreo I get that but it shouldn't say he was the first Belichick when Paul was the first one to do it

[@vitreo1363]

***** it's basically saying there was someone before Belichick who followed the same philosophy and inventiveness.

[@tombrady1513]

16*

[@uhneeuhnjee1031]

Bill Belicheck=GOAT

[@lityigimi5196]

L

[@the7A7dude]

Cheater

[@uhneeuhnjee1031]

+Ashlin Mills lol4rings

[@pakopakiao]

+Poke Power Actually 6, he won in 86 & 90 with Bill Parcels as a Def. Coordinator

[@lityigimi5196]

Ashlin Mills Exactly

[@ZEKEDAWG23]

The first Bill Belichick😂😂😂😂😂😂! Really! Bellechicl couldn’t ever hold Paul Browns Jockstrap! ie….. would never have won a single Super Bowl without Tom Brady and still hasn’t! Comparing him to Paul Brown is a complete insult! To Belichick🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

[@jennjphoto]

comparing Brown and Belichick is an insult. Brown won the right way without cheating and changing the game to fit his wussy QB that can't handle being hit. People need to stop glorifying cheaters.

[@user-ez8nj4br7x]

jjsjms2137 how did Belichick cheat? you just mad patriots are better

[@lazr2106]

suny123boy1 u guys are still on those lies 😂😂 sad Patriots haters are too funny

[@VinnieBoombatz374]

Title should be Belichick, the second Paul Brown. And I'm not even sure Belichick is worthy of that.

[@lazr2106]

Gregg Spencer 7 rings isn't worthy as being a great coach

[@marvelousrex2866]

Paul Brown had 7 rings of his own (4 AAFC, 3 NFL) and 10 straight appearences in championship games, along with 1 college national championship (probably would have been more if it hadn't been for losing half his team WWII, before being brought into the service himself) and 4 high school national championships, and all of those were as the head coach. Also, he built two professional football franchises from the ground up in the Browns and Bengals, and invented the modern face mask, the draw play, the West Coast offense, and scouting opponents using game film. He also was one of the first coaches to bring black players to pro football. Gregg Spencer didn't say he wasn't a great coach, he said that the title should be the other way around. Nothing Belichick will EVER do will come close to what Paul Brown did in his life, so the title is an insult to Brown.

[@the_grim_saint]

Gregg Spencer EXACTLY.

[@Rocksteddybelmont]

7 rings....Awesomeness...He is worthy

[@nobodyaskedbut]

That title is a disgrace to football. Belichick couldn't hold PB's clip board. They're not even in the same league. The truth is no pro coach is in PB's league. The old NFL owners and coaches never got over PB embarrassing them in 1950 when his Browns beat TWO NFL champions in the same year. The two time defending champion Eagles in the Browns' very 1st NFL game 35-10 in Philly. Then the STILL record holding (38.8PPG) Rams in the championship game 30-28. That game BTW, is the real greatest game ever played but the fact that the Browns won meant the NFL would have to ignore it all these years and hype that overblown boring '58 game instead. What about V. Lombardi you say. PB was Lombardi's idol and PB traded to Lombardi 3/4 of his 1st 2 championship front fours (WDavis/HJordan/BQuinlin). Lombardi was not much of an innovator and learned and copied just about everything from PB. Then there's PB's unmatched coaching tree: W.Ewbank,B.Collier,D.Shula,C.Noll,B.Walsh & 13 NFL championships combined.

[@yeserskito3408]

nobodyaskedbut this dudes heated lmao

[@wh0d3y77]

Great comment! The fact Brown doesn't have a Trophy named after him is a travesty. The man did more for football than any one person that's ever played or coached. The list is astonishing and mostly ahead of it's time. Things that are common place in today's league were put in place by Paul Brown. After reading his bio it turned me into a PB supporter and tell some of the young kids today so that maybe Paul will finally get the recognition he deserves. My favorite things to let people know about Brown was that he took a high school team (Massillon) and scrimmaged a NCAA team only to have beaten the College team so bad by halftime they called the game. And Paul won championships at every level he coached. Massillon to a State and National Championships, Ohio State to their 1st Championship (I believe) and the Brown to several professional Championships. He got it done wherever he went.

[@wh0d3y77]

Oh and please look up The Ohio River Offense. Another great read about Paul Brown

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

The NFL * never * got over those early 1950 losses from "that other team". Like clockwork the Browns wiped out each NFL team on its schedule until it stood as sole victor: 1950 (10-2-0), 1951 (11-1-0), 1952 (8-4-0), 1953 (11-1-0) .... losses that sent shockwaves through the league ... until Brown had his first losing season in 1956. The 35-10 W over the Eagles * stunned * everyone. Sports historians, writers, podcasters do not realize how that game affected the League similar to the way the 1969 Jets victory shocked the NFL (and next year, the Chiefs over the Vikings). "The Greatest Game Ever Played" was not NYG vs BC but the Cleveland Browns vs Philadelphia Eagles in 1950. The success of NFL agitprop has been to quietly remove Paul Brown from the historical equation by creating its own narrative separate from and excluding the Cleveland Browns. Al Davis may be hated by the NFL, but Paul Brown was and still is, loathed.

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

@@wh0d3y77 do you have a date, team and score for the Massillon vs college team? Thats the first I've ever heard of it and would definitely like to research it. Great post btw!

[@sleepsheep924]

Better then bill b. Greatest ever

[@christiansoldier77]

The First Bill Belichick??? Belichick never accomplished what Brown accomplished. I mean Brown created the face mask and modern football for goodness sakes

[@thepaulbrownshow3206]

Great point. Then again NFL FILMS pushes "the narrative" so can sell "the billion dollar product."

[@nobodyaskedbut]

Sorry, Belichick can't be compared to PB. Belichick was a loser in 5 of his 1st 6 seasons as a head coach. Great coaches didn't fail like that unless they started expansion teams. Belichick's 1st team was PB's Browns. How does a so-called great coach fail with PB's team. However, be advised, all pro coaches in football history pale next to PB because of his incomparable innovations, his incomparable coaching tree, him being the 1st to sign and play black players (Motley & Willis in 1946), his incomparable record of 10 straight title games and 5 straight title wins (7 total titles) and PB doing all this while starting TWO different teams from scratch.

[@l___M___l]

3rd

[@Goldy-RiSA]

Lol they make this all dramatic like the History Channel does with everything else.

[@bananashavings2517]

Last time the browns had a good coach

[@SquaTront]

Paul Brown, Bill Walsh, Don Shula, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, Tom Landry >>>>>>>>>> Bill Belichick. The video title is disgusting.

[@fatpatlives1998]

don shula not on belichick level Ill give you brown and walsh but kick rocks with the rest

[@fatpatlives1998]

@suny123boy1 na...tom Landry was great at first but the last 10 years where average at best and lead to the team being sold to jerry jones

[@fatpatlives1998]

Don shula couldnt win with a HOF qb so gtfoh

[@JTEsterkamp]

Too bad his son is a huge disappointment

[@prosoundscincy]

Man tell me about it

[@miguelrojas5969]

brady the goat

[@rainrain7936]

Was Paul Brown cheap? Why is his son a cheap owner?

[@the7A7dude]

The first cheater?

[@uhneeuhnjee1031]

Cry me a river.