“I owe just about my whole NFL career to him,” Schwartz told reporters in Detroit at the time , as he was preparing to face his mentor for the first time.

In 2010, when Schwartz got his first head coaching job with the Lions, he was unequivocal about how indebted he was to Belichick.

PHILADELPHIA — The way Jim Schwartz describes the impact the years he spent as a research assistant and scout under Bill Belichick with the Browns from 1993 to ’95 had on his coaching trajectory depends on when you catch him.

In 2016, after his run in Detroit had ended and a subsequent stint as defensive coordinator in Buffalo was cut short, Schwartz, when talking X’s and O’s at football conferences, would go into detail about the philosophies Belichick learned from Bill Parcells and subsequently passed along to him.


Whether it was what to look for in an offensive lineman (“big, smart, and tough”) or attacking bad offensive lines (“rush five”), Schwartz said, “Most of Bill Belichick’s mantras and the things that he preached came from Bill Parcells.”

But if you talk to Schwartz now, in his current job as the defensive coordinator of an Eagles team trying to stop Belichick and the Patriots from capturing their sixth Super Bowl title, the appreciation is still there, but it’s on the back burner.

“I owe a lot to Bill Belichick,” Schwartz said. “He got my career started. The first three years of my NFL career were with him in Cleveland. That’s the last thing that we’ll be thinking about in preparation. You think any of our players care that in 1993 I got hired as an unpaid intern? They are just going out and playing.

“We need to come up with a good plan. We need to execute. We need to keep in mind what we’re good at, keep in mind our matchups and all those different things. And if we do a good enough job at that, we’ll be able to come out with a victory.”


Eight years ago, when Schwartz reflected on a Browns staff that seemed unassuming at the time but in retrospect was influential — coaches such as Schwartz, Ozzie Newsome, Mike Sheppard, Nick Saban, Scot Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Eric Mangini, among others — he spoke about the reach that staff ultimately had.

“He taught a lot of people there,” Schwartz said of Belichick at the time. “There were a lot of head coaches that were in that building just starting their careers. He taught a lot of people how to deal with situations like that. Bill never flinched. He never changed what he did. He never changed the way he practiced or his philosophies and things like that.

“It carried him through. I’m sure he does the same things now that he did back in ’93, ’94, and ’95 when I was with him. There’s a confidence that goes with knowing that you’re on the right track and being able to stay that course, having the confidence to stay that course and the toughness to be able to do it.

“It’s not just me. There are a lot people that owe that lesson in their career to Bill Belichick.”

But when the Eagles face the Patriots on Sunday, where Schwartz falls on the many branches of Belichick’s coaching tree won’t matter.


There is respect across the Eagles’ defense for the path Schwartz paved as a coach, but urgency for the moment at hand.

“It’s all about the now,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “If you talk about it, yeah, it’s all laughs and giggles sometimes. But I think it’s cool to say that you played up under somebody that’s going to be in the Hall of Fame as a coach. You kind of know him a little bit.”

It’s not that the connection doesn’t help, it’s that Schwartz’s acumen speaks for itself in the Eagles’ locker room.

“Some people are who they are, though, so it helps a little bit, too,” Graham said of Schwartz’s relationship with Belichick. “People remember that far back. But I think Schwartz is a smart guy. He can remember a lot.”

Schwartz was hired by the Eagles two seasons ago to improve a defense that gave up the fifth-most points and the third-most yards in the NFL in 2015.

It didn’t take long for Schwartz to make an impact.

In 2016, the Eagles made a dramatic turnaround, giving up the 12th-fewest points and the 13th fewest yards.

This season, they were fourth both in points and yards allowed.

“I think that is a credit to the players, that you transition quickly,” Schwartz said. “It’s no secret that we’re not brain surgery on defense. I think that helps a little bit. The current players do a really good job of indoctrinating the new players and helping them along with their communication.


“Some of the additions we’ve made have been veteran players that have been through a lot of the same things, and it’s not just a matter of learning, it’s a matter of just picking up new terminology. Most of the techniques have been played before. I’ve never really felt that we were a work in progress, so to speak. I never really felt like there was a time . . . that our players didn’t have command of what we did.

“And I think that’s a great compliment to the players. It’s a hard-working bunch, not only physically but also mentally, and that’s shown.”