We all remember the elementary school days when being late meant detention or missing recess. But your 5th grade homeroom teacher’s got nothing on long-time New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick when it comes to punishing folks who are late to practice. Former Patriots lineman Rich Ohrnberger recently shared that he once purposefully crashed his car on his way to practice when he realized he’d be ten minutes late!

Let’s take a look at some other wild excuses Coach B has heard over the years!

ACL and MCL Tear
Few people know that even famous Patriot Tom Brady feared the wrath of Coach Belichick. Touchdown Tom was on his way to work in 2008 when he realized his watch had stopped! After some quick thinking, Tom Brady tore both his ACL and MCL and then texted the coach. After all, it’s better to be out for a season than fired from the team forever!

Eaten Alive
Legendary Patriots Tight End Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski was driving near the zoo when he noticed that he’d be 3 minutes late to practice! Risk-taker Gronk bought a zoo ticket, snuck into the reptile exhibit, and got eaten alive by a Burmese Python. Whoa!!! Coach B still made him run extra laps, though.

Murder
Probably the most famous and extreme example. Imagine the shock for Coach Belichick when he received a voicemail from the police department after Tight End Aaron Hernandez no-showed practice! When traffic on the way to the stadium was worse than he expected, Aaron Hernandez real quick killed a dude and used his one phone call to tell Coach B’s office he couldn’t make it to practice.

What’s the wildest excuse you’ve given your boss? Share in the comments!