New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in NFL History. However, it appears even he has had his occasional lapses of judgment on the football field.

It all happened when he was still an up-and-coming defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. Quarterback Jeff Hostetler revealed during an appearance on the Three Guys Before The Game podcast an instance where he accidentally pegged Belichick in the head at practice:

“Well, I would run a little bit of the seven-on-seven for the defense. And Belichick would always have these cards out and he would show us what he wants us to do. And then he would turn where the center would be, he would turn and he would watch his defense. And so we were running all these crossing routes . . . and so all of a sudden, we’re running these crossing routes, and he stands right there where the center is. I drop back, and it’s a two-yard crossing route. And I drill it to the guy.

“Well, all of a sudden, Bill’s head is right in the way. It hits him in the head. His papers fly everywhere. The ball flies everywhere. Everybody stops and it’s like, everything just went quiet. It’s like, ‘Uh-oh.’ And then he starts ripping into me and yelling at me and grabbing his papers. After that was over with, I had almost every defensive player come up to me and say, ‘Hey, great job, Hoss. Great job.’ And it was like, I was accepted. . . . Belichick hated me after that, but my only response to him was, ‘Well, don’t stand there.’”

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It is tough to imagine a young Belichick not being aware of his surroundings, especially on the football field. One would imagine the incident would have led to him letting his defensive players loose on the former backup. However, Hostetler later revealed that said players actually gave him props for the whole incident.

It goes without saying that Belichick's no-nonsense approach can be known to ruffle some feathers. It appears the same can be said for how he was back in the day.

More importantly, it is safe to assume that Belichick learned his lesson that day. Given all the reported turmoil that has brewed between him and quarterback Tom Brady, it is surprising that not a single ball has “accidentally” come toward Belichick's head over the last 18 years.