It’s the end of the road for Tom Brady and the Patriots after suffering defeat against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship.
One day after the Pats loss to the Broncos, Coach Bill Belichick said he had time to look at the tape, and wasted no time taking a direct hit at a former player.
“It’s one of the worst plays I’ve ever seen. It was a deliberate play by the receiver to take out Aquib, no attempt to get open,” said Belichick.
Receiver Wes Welker, spent six seasons with New England.
Belichick, who normally doesn’t provide any criticism about any player in the league, made the comments on his own accord just one minute into his opening remarks.
“I was asked about the hit on Talib and I feel bad, really for Talib,” Belichick said.
The play happened early in the second quarter. Manning threw a pass down the middle for another receiver, but Welker, going full speed, colliding with Talib.
The Pats cornerback went down and was taken to the locker room for the remainder of the game.
Without him, the Pats defense couldn’t stop Manning and watched their season end in Denver.
Welker wasn’t penalized on the play but Belichick was still upset Monday.
“I’ll let the league handle the discipline on that play, it’s not for me to decide, but it’s one of the worst plays I’ve ever seen and that’s all I’m going to say about that,” he said.
Denver coach John Fox said he hadn’t seen Belichick’s comments but called Welker “a great player, high integrity. I can say that we were not doing anything with intent.”
Welker, coming from the right, used his right arm to make contact with the left arm of Talib, who was running from the left to stay with his receiver. They collided a split-second before Manning’s pass went off the hands of receiver Demaryius Thomas a few yards away.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.