Here’s a hint at how detailed Patriots coach Bill Belichick is and how consistent the Pittsburgh Steelers are.

To prepare for Pittsburgh this week, Belichick went back to the notes he took when he coached the Browns and they went up against the Steelers.

And what struck Belichick is that what the Steelers did during the days he coached the Browns are the same things they are doing today.

“It is the same blitzes,” Belichick started, before transitioning to the Steelers offense. “Instead of being four wide receivers it is three wide receivers and a tight end with Heath Miller who is like a receiver at tight end. But it is the same basic plays, same protections.

“I don’t want to say there are no changes but they are minor. In this day and age that is pretty rare. Same thing offensively, they run a lot of the same off tackle, outside runs, more one back than they used to be. They were more two back in the past but they are a little more one back now and spread out a little bit more. When they run the ball it is still the same kind of blocking scheme. They are very good at it.”

It is one reason that Pittsburgh is the model of stability and success, and the envy of Cleveland. Belichick said that, since the time he coached in Cleveland, most teams have changed schemes eight times. Not the Steelers.

“Well, most of that stuff has changed even going back to Barry Foster and Eric Green,” Belichick said. “There are a lot of different players now. I am just saying from a scheme standpoint they have had a lot of consistency and certainly watching them play 11 games this year has a lot more impact on what we do than anything that happened back in the ‘90’s or back in ’02 or ’03. But, I am saying that it is pretty much the same.

“Harrison is different than [Jason] Gildon and Gildon was different than Kevin Greene and Kevin Greene was different than Greg Lloyd. But, they are all 10 sack or more a year guys. Whoever those players are they have been able to maintain a lot of continuity in their system even though the players have changed multiple times through the years.”

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