New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick downplayed any possible rift between himself and longtime former quarterback Tom Brady in the leadup to their highly-anticipated matchup on Sunday Night Football.
But Belichick's brief postgame hug with Brady did little to silence any questions about their relationship.
The embrace was caught during NBC Sports' postgame coverage of the game between the coach and his quarterback of 20 seasons after Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Patriots 19-17 at Gillette Stadium, his first and only game against his former team.
While several other Patriots coaches and players with past ties to Brady were also captured giving the seven-time Super Bowl champion much more emotional embraces after the game, Belichick's was brief and seemed rushed.
CBS Minnesota sports anchor Norman Seawright III tweeted that the hug was, "giving 'ran into my ex in public and completely overthought the situation'" vibes.
Numerous other Twitter users also had plenty of jokes for the awkward postgame hug from Belichick
NFL Network reporter Albert Breer later reported Belichick "went in the Buccaneers locker room" after the game and Brady confirmed during his postgame press conference that he spoke privately with the coach after their brief embrace on the field, noting that he chose to keep details of the conversation between himself and his former coach.
During Belichick's October 1Zoomcall with reporters, the six-time Super Bowl champion was asked if he believed he would've had the same success without Brady in New England, which he answered with an emphatic, "no."
“Of course not,” Belichick said via CBS Boston. “We talked about that for two decades. I think I have been on the record dozens of times saying there is no quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady. I still feel that way.
“I was very lucky to have Tom as quarterback and to coach him,” Belichick added. “He was as good as any coach could ever ask for.”
Brady finished Sunday's game with 269 yards on 22 of 43 passing, which included setting the NFL's all-time passing record and leading a 19-17 comeback victory over his former team of 20 years, the New England Patriots.
Trailing 17-16 with 4:34 remaining in the fourth quarter, Brady led a successful drive that was capped off by a 48-yard field goal by Ryan Succop with 1:57 remaining.
Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones finished Sunday's game with 275 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, leading New England into field goal range before kicker Nick Folk missed on a would-be 56-yard attempt in the rain.
Brady entered Sunday's game just 67 yards shy of Drew Brees' previous NFL record of 80,358 passing yards.
Last week, the 44-year-old joined Brees as the only other quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 80,000 yards, finishing the Bucs' 34-27 Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams with 432 yards and a touchdown on 41 of 55 passing, putting his career mark at 80,291 passing yards.
Brady has now defeated all 32 NFL teams following Sunday's win.
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