The New England Patriots' season came to an end Sunday with a 26-16 loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. Head Coach Bill Belichick addressed the media Monday Morning and made a point to mention former-Patriot-now-Denver Bronco Wes Welker. Welker hit New England cornerback Aqib Talib in the second quarter. Talib left the game with an injured his knee on the play and left the game. Belichick called it, "one of the worst plays I've seen."
Belichick refused to comment on any possible repercussions from the play, saying he would defer to the League when it came to discipline on the matter.
Personally, I did not see anything out of the ordinary when I saw the play as it was happening. I just thought Talib was injured. It happens in football and I didn't think anything about a penalty or any other punishment for Welker.
I think there is something deeper when it comes to Belichick and his comments on the former Patriot. Welker left the Patriots as a free agent and the head coach feels slighted by that.
You don't leave the Patriots. The Patriots tell you when they are ready for you to leave. If you leave before the team says so, it is a slight (Eric Mangini).
Welker signed with the Broncos before the 2013 season after six seasons with the Patriots. If there was a season New England could have used the services of the former Texas Tech Red Raider, it was 2013 when the receiving corps was hit with everything from injuries to incarceration.
Belichick did an admirable job of keeping the team together throughout the season, taking the team all the way to the conference championship game. Welker was familiar with the Patriots system and game plan and his presence was certainly missed by a team decimated by unfortunate events as the year went on. Anyone who saw the receivers and quarterback Tom Brady go through the growing pains and miscommunications at the start of the season would be surprised to learn that same team would get to within one game of the Super Bowl.
Instead of holding his head high and talking about the positives that occurred during the season, Belichick became overwhelmed with the taste of sour grapes in his mouth and decided to call out a former player. Belichick could have walked up to his former player and said, "Hey, good game out there. Give 'em hell in two weeks, okay Buddy?" but he didn't. He vented his frustrations before the media; Something very un-Belichickian. I believe if the Patriots had won Sunday's game, this incident would never have been mentioned.
No comments:
Post a Comment