The NFL world was stunned on Saturday when word broke that Andrew Luck would be retiring at age 29, as he dealt with an ankle injury, the latest in a string of injuries over the course of his career.
Luck planned to make the announcement the next day, but the timeline got moved up when Adam Schefter broke the news while the Colts were playing the Bears in Indianapolis in a preseason game, with Luck on the sideline. After the game, Luck held an emotional press conference confirming his sudden retirement, as the Colts now move forward with Jacoby Brissett.
Most players around the league wished Luck well in retirement and applauded him for having the courage to just walk away when the passion left due to the constant battles with injuries. There were, of course, plenty of fans and pundits that called Luck, a player that once played with a lacerated kidney, soft for retiring so soon, but it was nearly impossible to miss the news if you are at all close to the NFL.
However, it was not totally impossible, as we learned on Monday when Bill Belichick was asked about it and said it was the first he’s heard of it in the most Belichick answer possible.
https://twitter.com/__thirdandlong/status/1166033624510226434
Football coaches love to tell you how little they pay attention to the world around them. Sometimes, that’s to a painfully sad degree, like when a coach says they didn’t even know election day had come and gone because they were just too locked in on the next opponent. Other times they will brag about having not seen a new movie or TV show in decades, because the only film they watch is the game tape on their upcoming opponent.
However, this is, easily, the funniest example of this, as the Colts have long been semi-rivals of the Patriots — mostly in the Brady-Manning battles — and for Belichick to insist he “doesn’t follow them” as the reason for not hearing the biggest NFL news story of the year is hysterical.
