The amazing thing about being Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is that you can essentially say anything in a football context and it's seen in one of three ways:
- A deep and introspective comment about the state of a game he mastered long ago.
- A "classic Belichick" non-answer that, despite being only two or three words, is something much deeper and more meaningful.
- A backhanded compliment that, because it's coming from Belichick, is seen as a tip-of-the-cap from the old ball coach.
Over Labor Day weekend, we got a prime example of No. 3.
When talking about Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Belichick was asked about tackling a quarterback of that size. Roethlisberger's exact listed weight -- 241 pounds -- was used.
"Yeah, he was probably that in the eighth grade," Belichick said, via ESPN.com. "He's all of 241, trust me."
Roethlisberger was notified of the coach's response.
"I guess I should take that as a compliment from coach Belichick," he said. "Not being around him all that much to know whether it is his humor or him being serious, but I guess that's a compliment coming from him. Any time you can get, even if it's a legit compliment or backhanded compliment, whatever you can get from coach Belichick, you have to take it."
As we head into Thursday night's season opener between the Pats and Steelers, this will not be controversial in any way, nor was it meant to be. In other markets it might have ballooned into something bordering the absurd.
Here? It's just classic Belichick, man. See you Thursday.