![Belichick and Welker]()
Bill Belichick certainly demanded a lot out of his players but this just goes way beyond the job description.
The Washington Commanders are currently trying to turn their franchise around after years of doing pretty much nothing and part of that rebuild is bringing in a new coaching staff to tighten the ship.
In February, they announced that Dan Quinn, former Falcons head coach and Seahawks and Cowboys defensive coordinator, would be taking the helm as head coach, a move that had people around the area (I live in northern Virginia) pretty excited. He then brought in a number of coaches, including Larry Izzo as the new special teams coordinator.
Izzo was born just 40 miles south of Commanders Field and spent 13 seasons in the NFL primarily as a special teamer, mainly for the New England Patriots where he spent 8 seasons. His hard nosed play and commitment to the job built him a loyal following of fans, but a story of how he earned a game ball tells us who he is at heart better than anything else.
We don't know exactly what game it was or what situation was unfolding on the field, but Izzo needed to go to the bathroom. Like really go to the bathroom.
But there was a chance that a last minute field goal was coming up and he would probably rather hang the cleats up entirely than miss one of the few chances he had to step on the field so he somehow managed to empty his bowels on the sideline, quietly and discretely, before getting back out there to block.
I'll leave any further details up to your imagination but Bill Belichick loved it so much that Izzo received a game ball for his efforts. (While I'm no Belichick fan, I will say that he always supported the right type of players)
There's plenty of myths surrounding every NFL franchise so when I first heard this I assumed it was just another legend, but the story was backed up by two former Patriots, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin and wide receiver Wes Welker.
Welker actually spoke about the moment on
Highly Questionable with Dan Le Batard and Bomani Jones, saying that the story was "100% true":
"This is 100% true... And Larry would be so mad at me if I said that this didn't happen because he takes ultimate pride in this whole deal. I mean, you know of all those special teams tackles and pro bowls he's made and everything else... I guarantee that game ball is probably a more prized item for him than his Super Bowl rings...
It's what he does, the guy is phenomenal."
Rosevelt Colvin also responded to an article saying the story was "totally true" and that seals it for me; Larry Izzo took a dump on the sideline so he didn't have to miss a single play of the game.
That's a football guy right there. We need a few more of them in today's NFL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_4H-GmhTH0&t=238s
