Throughout the course of his coaching career, Bill Belichick has been around some of the NFL's all-time greats, including Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor.
So, as a subject-matter expert on football and a variety of players, Belichick will often find himself on the receiving end of questions seeking a comparison of today's stars to NFL legends.
Wednesday provided the scenario, as a reporter asked the Patriots head coach if Chicago Bears pass rusher Khalil Mack ranked up there with the likes of Taylor and Reggie White.
Belichick, however, quickly put an emphatic end to the line of questioning.
"Wait a minute you're talking about Lawrence Taylor, now," Belichick said. "I'm not putting anybody in Lawrence Taylor's class. You can put everybody down below that. That's with a lot of respect to a lot of good players now, but we're talking about Lawrence Taylor."
Belichick served on the Giants coaching staff from 1979 to 1990, a span during which Taylor terrorized quarterbacks, so his high opinion of one of the league's greatest pass rushers carries significant weight.
Mack, who has 45.5 sacks on his career, has shown he is capable of taking over a game from the defensive side of the ball, but don't expect Belichick to give him the highest comparison.
Meanwhile, the Bears will continue to evaluate Mack's ankle injury.
"We're just going to continue to keep an eye on it and be more cautious than anything," Nagy said.
Mack suffered the injury in the first half of last Sunday's loss to the Dolphins, but played through it and finished the game with 62 of the defense's 78 snaps. Mack officially was a DNP at practice Wednesday.
Should the ankle injury keep Mack from the field, it would provide a tremendous blow against a surging offense. The Patriots have found their stride during a three-game winning streak, averaging 39.6 points per game and 462.3 yards of total offense in that span.
