Bill Belichick is often not the easiest coach to understand. Words in his sentences are often lost as the six-time Super Bowl championship-winning coach jumps from thought to thought.
So it was when he appeared to leave out a crucial word in his answer to a reporter's question on Monday on what it was like to face Andrew Luck, who announced his retirement from the NFL on Saturday.
"Yeah he's a good player. I didn't see that, but I haven't really followed them," Belichick said, raising questions as to whether he had seen the news. "You know, we all have to make our decisions, he made his. I respect it."
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The Patriots' official transcript released the afternoon following his press conference shed more light on his words.
"I didn't see that [coming], but I haven't really followed them" Belichick said per the Pats' website.
The clarification reflected a drastic change in sentence meaning, altering the coach's words to mean that he was surprised by the news rather than it was broken to him Monday morning as he stood at the podium.
Belichick breezed through the word "coming" as seamlessly as he has breezed past the Colts in the postseason.
Luck was, by all accounts, a remarkable quarterback who had a bright future in the league. At only 29 years old, Luck was off to one of the best starts to a career in NFL history, despite injuries. His 171 touchdown passes through his first 86 regular-season games trailed only Aaron Rodgers and Dan Marino. Luck was a four-time Pro Bowler and the 2018 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Under center, Luck guided Indianapolis to a 53-33 record with a pair of AFC South titles and four postseason appearances. He led 20 game-winning drives, more than all but three quarterbacks since 2012 — none of whom are Tom Brady.
He never lost to the Titans in 11 games.
One team he not could get past: Belichick's Patriots.
In six meetings with New England, Luck's Colts were outscored 261-124 in six losses. Two of those meetings came in the playoffs. One of them — the 2014 matchup — came to have the infamous distiction of being the game during which Deflategate, a controversy in which Brady had allegedly requested footballs be deflated below the league's limits, took place.
Luck will be remembered as a bright spot on the Colts for a number of seasons, and perhaps one of the biggest "what if" players in NFL history as the first overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft. What could he have done had he outlasted Brady and Belichick? We'll never know.
