Yes, he's short with the media most of the time, but ask him the right question and he'll give a long, thoughtful answer. And someone hit the right button, asking about Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, because Belichick gave as much praise to the all-time leader in touchdown passes as you'll ever see someone give an opponent. New England faces Denver on Sunday.
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You'd think this might be typical "coach praises opponent" stuff, but it runs deeper than that. There's a mutual respect between arguably the greatest coach of this generation, and the greatest quarterback of this generation. Manning said before the AFC championship game last year that he thought Belichick would go down as the greatest coach ever. Belichick didn't go that far with Manning (not with Tom Brady, another contender for greatest quarterback ever, on his side) but he did say that Manning has no weakness as a quarterback.
"Seems like he causes every defense a problem every week for the last 15 years or however long it's been," Belichick said, according to Comcast SportsNet New England. "You gotta know who the other people are out there, but everybody's gotta do their job to defend them. You can't just stop one guy or one thing. But [Manning] does a great job of utilizing his players, his resources, relative to what the defense is giving him, what looks best, the combination of his personnel versus where the defense is soft.
"He's good because he does everything good, really. I don't think there's any low points in his game. Very smart. A great understanding of concepts and timing. Game management, clock management, situational football, third down, red area, great utilization of the field from sideline to sideline, back in the deep part of the field he's very accurate. Great decision-maker, quick release.
"Has very few negative plays. If something happens that the quarterback might be able to keep the team out of, he very rarely puts his team at risk on plays like that. If there's an unblocked guy right at the point of attack, those kind of things, he's always able to get into something else that doesn't create a problem . . . It's pretty much everything. I don't think there are any weaknesses in his game."
That should be Manning's Hall of Fame introduction. It's incredible praise from someone who knows the game as well as anyone, and respects its history as much as anyone too. Thankfully Belichick took the opportunity to express it.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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