PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Patriot coach Bill Belichick was at his most expansive this morning when asked about the influence Paul Brown had on his career, as well as coaching trees and philosophy.
We'll pass along some of those thoughts a bit later.
A few more soundbites from Belichick on other topics:
Expectations for Chad Ochocinco -- “I think I have the same expectations for all our players, it doesn’t make a difference who they are or what year they are in -- come in, work hard, be prepared, go out there and compete on the field. There is no difference for any player – first year, second year, 10th year. They are here to play football for us, that's what they need to do.”
If he expects Wes Welker to take part in offseason activities -- "I don't know. We'll see how that goes."
On potential contract talks with Welker this week: "All the players that are on our roster, there is some degree of looking to the future with [them]. We don’t have anything to announce or report, so I don’t know."
Peyton Manning reaction: "I’m sure the Colts did what they thought was best. Peyton made his decision, that I’m sure he thought was best. I respect all that. Different, but similar, to the Joe Montana situation with San Francisco and Kansas City. Free agency and salary cap, those are going to be some of the residuals of the system."