Former Patriots offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger told the story of him oversleeping his alarm during his rookie season in 2009, causing him to be late to a team meeting.
While this doesn’t sound like the end of the world to some, to a Patriots rookie it would be. Coach Bill Belichick is known for being strict, making young players very concerned that they could be cut for being late.
With this in mind, Ohrnberger decided to intentionally get into a car accident on his way to the meeting so he had a real excuse to be late. Yes, you read that right.
After his phone died overnight and he overslept, he decided he didn’t want to speed and get a ticket.
The 36-year-old, who retired from the NFL after the 2014 season, told his story on Thursday during an appearance on XTRA1360’s The Hartman And Rich O Show in San Diego.
“I see a church van in front of me that’s all dinged up, and it’s got the black smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe,” Ohrnberger said. “I’m just like, ‘I’m gonna hit this car.’ I’m going to hit this car because it’s better to pay the insurance or like peel off this guy a couple hundred bucks than embarrass myself being late for this Patriots team meeting.”
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Ultimately, Ohrnberger decided to rear end the van. He noted that he barely hit the van, just enough so that it dented his bumper so he “had proof” of the accident. The retired player couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably while telling this story looking back 13 years later.
After the accident, Ohrnberger said the man he hit in the church van was very old, and ended up apologizing for the accident. The Patriots rookie made sure to take full blame for the incident.
When he finally got to the Patriots facility, Belichick’s assistant at the time appeared upset with Ohrnberger, but told him to just wait in the offensive lineman room. The offensive lineman coach at the time, Dante Scarnecchia, was the first to enter the room and he saw right through Ohrnberger’s “accident.”
The lineman didn’t get cut from the team, though, and played for the Patriots for three seasons.
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