Bill Belichick ended his Friday press conference early after fielding questions about wide receiver Antonio Brown's off-field situation.
The Patriots coach opened with a statement about facing the Jets in Week 3 that lasted a minute and a half before addressing Brown, acknowledging New England is looking into Brown's situation.
"I know there are questions about Antonio," Belichick said. "We take all the situations with our team very seriously. There are some things we're looking into, but I'm not going to have any comment on any off-the-field situations or questions on that. Anything about football, I'm happy to answer."
Bill Belichick Live Press Conference 9/20: https://t.co/hXlErSaCa5
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In total, Belichick took seven questions and his press conference lasted just three and a half minutes before he had enough.
The closest question he came to answering was whether he expected Brown to play Sunday to which Belichick replied: “He’s on our roster.”
Among the other questions Belichick seemingly dodged:
Question: As far as your work with Antonio in football, do the off-field accusations complicate your ability to coach him, your feelings about him personally?
Belichick: "When we work on football, we work on football."
Q: Can you talk about Antonio Brown's role this weekend?
B: "Uh, no. I'm not going to get into that. We're going to do what's best for the team like we always do."
Q: How do you weigh with your players their performance on the field with their behavior off the field with their behavior off the field and what's best for the team overall?
B: "It's a big picture question. We answer it the best that we can. There's no set formula."
Q: How important is the behavior off the field?
B: "Everything's important."
Q: Another headline today focusing on Antonio Brown. Does any of this at all affect his status with the team?
B: “I think I’ve already addressed this. So we’re going to get ready for the Jets here. Happy to answer any football questions. But the rest of it, I’m done with the rest of it.”
Q: Is there ever a point where some of the off field stuff is too much?
And that's when Belichick walked off and said, "I'm good."
Brown was accused by his former trainer, Britney Taylor, of sexual assault and rape in a civil lawsuit, while a second unidentified woman has also made allegations of sexual misconduct against the receiver.
Brown has strongly denied the allegations through his attorney and he opted against discussing the matter further when he was questioned Thursday in his first public comments since the allegations about his availability for NFL action.
"I'm just super grateful to be here, thankful for Bill Belichick and Tom Brady," Brown said Thursday. "I've got a lot of offense to learn and catch up but I'm excited and grateful to be here."
The Patriots (2-0) will host the Jets (0-2) on Sunday with kickoff set for 1 p.m. ET.