FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Much of the NFL has been buzzing since Saturday night when Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck shockingly retired, but has laser-focused New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick really been completely unaware of what unfolded?
Not exactly, even though that is the way it might have sounded when Belichick was asked Monday about his reaction to the "big news of the weekend."
"He's a good player. I didn't see that, but I don't really follow them," Belichick said of Luck. "We all have to make our decisions. He made his. I respect it."
It was later clarified that Belichick meant he didn't see Luck's retirement coming.
Yet if there is any NFL coach who could possibly miss such league-altering news, it is the 67-year-old Belichick, who often tells players in training camp that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and the only things that matter are what happens with the Patriots.
The defending Super Bowl champions don't face the Colts in the 2019 regular season. But there is a notable connection between the teams: Jacoby Brissett, the quarterback replacing Luck, was a 2016 third-round pick of the Patriots who was traded to the Colts in 2017.