"He's been a great player for me, a great coach for me," coach Bill Belichick says about Pepper Johnson (above).
(Barry Chin/Globe Staff)
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Pepper Johnson took part in his sixth Super Bowl last night, the experiences coming from two distinct vantage points.
Johnson's first two were as a player with the New York Giants, coming away victorious in the 1986 and 1990 seasons. The view was different for the last four, as he watched from the sideline as a Patriots assistant coach (2001, 2003, 2004, and 2007), tasting defeat for the first time last night in the team's 17-14 loss.
When it comes to the most challenging part of making the transition from playing to coaching, Johnson doesn't hesitate. He misses wearing a helmet and that scintillating feeling of running onto the field. That's why he laughed when recalling an incident from the 2002 season, as the Patriots were playing the Jets and Chad Morton was running toward the New England sideline before his momentum carried him into the bench area.
"I guess everyone expected for me to run away and I stuck up my elbow," Johnson said with a chuckle. "Two weeks later, you see that
The energetic Johnson did not intend to become an NFL coach when he approached Bill Belichick in 2000, shortly after Belichick was hired as Patriots coach.
"I wanted a little insight on coaching, as I was trying to go back to my high school and coach," he said. "I felt like I could coach, but I didn't know from the organization standpoint the dos and don'ts, how I should handle meetings. They allowed me to come in and join in training camp with the guys and it just went from there."
This is Johnson's eighth year on the Patriots' staff. He was an assistant linebackers coach in 2000, before focusing on inside linebackers - the position he played - from 2001-03. His last three years he has worked with the defensive line.
Johnson, who said he's content and did not feel overlooked when the Patriots hired Dean Pees as coordinator in 2005, credits Belichick for bringing him along as a coach.
"He had confidence in me as a player to pick me up off the streets when the Giants released me and have me come out and perform in Cleveland, but there is a higher level and more respect when he asked me to come up in here and coach," Johnson said.
"He really appreciated my game, and appreciated my approach to the game. I'm quite sure he had to do a little fine-tuning because the few times I went to him and said, 'Coach, I want to say this, but I know I can't say it like this, help me out,' and he helped me out. Now, I think I'm off the training wheels. I can handle the guys myself."
One of Johnson's primary roles is to run the scout team defense in practice.
"Those players take a lot of pride in it and Pepper does," Belichick said of the group referred to as the show team. "They do an awesome job of getting our [offense] ready to play on a weekly basis.
"I'm sure that [Tom] Brady and all of the other offensive players would tell you how good of a job our defensive show team players do of getting us ready to play the game, and Pepper has great enthusiasm. He does a tremendous job on that. I can't say enough about Pepper. He's been a great player for me, a great coach for me, and a great friend through the years. [I] have great respect for everything that he's done in the National Football League and in football."
Johnson explained that the job is more detailed than it might appear. The unit's nickname is "The Dirty Show."
"We're not the normal show team," he said. "I think we do a lot for our offense. Coaches will watch film of our opponents before we go out to practice and we try to simulate some of the things they do. We don't have a [Michael] Strahan here, unless I get [Richard] Seymour and Jarvis Green to go out and perform, which they do at times.
"We try to give the best look we possibly can and I know it works because I did it. Coach Belichick told me my first year in the league, the better I perform on the show team, the better I perform on special teams, the more I would play come game day. He didn't lie to me."
Johnson fondly recalled playing the role of Broncos linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, or the Chargers' Billy Ray Smith. "I had fun doing that and then the next year, I'm a starter," he said.
Johnson noted he doesn't talk much about his playing career to current Patriots, joking that he told cornerback Asante Samuel he had won two rings with the Giants, and Samuel responded with surprise. Others, such as Green, are aware of Johnson's past. Green sometimes watches tape of Johnson's former Giants teammate, Leonard Marshall.
Johnson's magnetic personality made him a favorite of the New York press leading into the Super Bowl. He was asked if he might bring back the "Stomp and Grind" dance that he introduced with teammate William Roberts after the Giants' win over Denver in Super Bowl XXI. He also touched on where his career might be headed, and if he's interested in being a coordinator.
"If it happens, it happens. It would take a big pull to get me away from this organization and this program that I'm in right now," Johnson said. "Belichick gave me my start and I'd like to think I worked my way up to where I am now. The role I took, I'm pretty happy. When you're playing for championships, it's kind of hard to say, 'I'd rather give up championships and go out here and do something selfishly or for an individual goal.' I like winning and the guys I'm coaching. I'd like to think when I leave this program, all those guys have retired."
Mike Reiss can be reached at mreiss@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
