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FOXBORO - Andre Tippett was not only a great linebacker, Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday. He was also somewhat of an innovator.

Tippett, whose 11-year run of excellence as a Patriot will be rewarded this weekend with his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, may have been one of the first players to popularize the incorporation of martial arts techniques into his training - and thus set coaches across the NFL to thinking that some of those techniques might be good to add to their programs.

"There were a few players and a few organizations that had a little bit of an attachment to martial arts and that type of culture," Belichick said of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tippett's tenure in the NFL. "Certainly, Tip was one of the more prominent ones. The Cowboys had a guy come in and work for them for a while. But when you watched Andre play, you could really see it."

Belichick's New York Giants, of which he was the defensive coordinator at the time, didn't play the Patriots all that often during that period, but film of the Patriots was frequently viewed as part of preparation for another opponent. That's when Belichick said he gained an appreciation for Tippett's techniques.

"You could see how fast his hands were and how he was able to swat people off or knock the blocker's hands down to create better leverage situation for himself to rush the passer," Belichick said. The NFL is a copycat league, and smart coaches like Belichick tend to incorporate what works elsewhere into their own program. In this case, Tippett's outstanding use of his hands and arms to fend off tight ends and tackles became a learning tool for other teams.

"That was something that the Giants, over the course of my career there, started to work on," Belichick said. "We started to incorporate hand drills into the off-season program, for offensive and defensive linemen.

"When I got to Cleveland, I hired a martial arts instructor and he worked with the team," he added. "(Defensive end) Anthony Pleasant was a big proponent of that, and it really helped him. As it turned out, it didn't only help with the hand quickness and defensive attacking moves, but also the flexibility training that the martial arts people use ... we put some of that in our football program.

"There are a lot of applications to those principals, whether you want to call it martial arts or football techniques. Andre was certainly one of the forerunners on that. Here, we teach it as football techniques," he continued. "We tried to teach it from a football standpoint. Mike Vrabel is guy that uses it extremely well. I can't tell you how many sacks and pressures he has got using some form of hand technique attacking the blocker. That was something he worked on with Andre when he came here in '01."

Now, Belichick said, most teams use similar drills as part of their football technique - and now, it has the Hall of Fame stamp of approval.

Harrison's back

Safety Rodney Harrison has been back on the field for a couple of practices, but he's not saying why he was on the physically-unable-to-perform list in the first place.

In any event, he said he's refreshed and ready to begin his 15th NFL season.

"My workouts have really increased and the passion is still there," he said after Thursday's practice. "If it wasn't, I definitely would not be here. I'd be at home with my boys and my little daughter and not on this practice field. I would never take an opportunity like this and take it for granted. If I didn't have that same passion, fire or desire, I wouldn't be here."

Harrison said he did a significant amount of self-assessment before deciding to return for another campaign. "Do I feel like getting up in the morning at 5:30 a.m., working out twice a day, doing all the little things that it takes in order to keep yourself in great shape? And do I want to continue to fly around and hit people and be a part of these meetings? Both answers are yes," he said. "I still feel pretty good. I've watched myself on tape and I'm still moving halfway decent."