Steelers, Patriots have taken different paths in dominant decade

Todd Haley was working his first full-time NFL coaching gig, and part of the duties for the then-30-year-old wide receivers coach of the New York Jets was to set up the offensive scout team.

During a 1997 practice Haley recalled earlier this week, a young Jets receiver mimicking an opponent took his spot out wide.

Apparently, though, not wide enough for the defensive coordinator who had earned a reputation as something of a perfectionist.

“I'm this young receivers coach, and I've got a coach screaming at me that he lined up one yard outside the numbers instead of two,” Haley said. “And I'm like, ‘What the (heck's) the difference?'

“But I understood it pretty quick.”

That coordinator who came down on Haley? None other than Bill Belichick.

Twenty years ago, Belichick was known mostly as a failed coach of the Cleveland Browns, albeit as a brilliant defensive tactician. Today, of course, Belichick has cemented a legacy as arguably the greatest coach in NFL history after leading the New England Patriots to five Super Bowl titles over a 16-year span.

“He was just very particular about what he wanted,” Haley said, “and as a young coach, I didn't always understand that. But as I got older and more experienced, I understood what he was yelling at me all the time for.”

Haley said his anecdote about getting screamed at in practice “tells you why he's been one of the best coaches in the league. And why some guys are good coaches, and some guys aren't so good.

“It's the details.”

Haley is one of a small group of Steelers players or coaches who have first-hand experience working for or with Belichick. Two Steelers players — cornerback Mike Hilton and linebacker L.J. Fort — briefly were part of the New England organization, although neither appeared in a regular-season game.

They have played for arguably the two most consistently successful franchises in the NFL over the past decade-plus (the Steelers haven't had a losing season since 2003; the Patriots since 2000).

Fort spent part of the 2015 training camp with New England, and Hilton was on the practice squad for the first week of the 2016 regular season.

They came away with similar impressions of the culture Belichick cultivates.

Hilton called the Patriots way “business-like.” Fort used a similar and more vivid term.

“Military-like, I would say, in the sense of the way everything is run, (even) walkthroughs and everything like that,” Fort said. “Whereas here it's a lot more laid back. The same work gets done, it's just different. (Belichick) is more like an army general-type, where Coach Tomlin is like one of the guys — but at the same time he's a leader.”

Hilton, who also spent about four months with the Jacksonville Jaguars, said “it's easy to see” why the Patriots and Steelers have been successful — even if they take differing paths.

“New England, they are business-like,” Hilton said. “Straightforward, take care of business — and then have fun afterwards.

“Here, it's more relaxed. ‘Let's have fun, and then let's make sure we handle business.' You try not to put too much pressure on yourself here.”

Said Fort: “Both organizations are very disciplined, there's just different ways of going about it.”

Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.