Once again, we are confronted with the essential difference between Him and Us.
We, of course, have been thinking about the Pittsburgh Steelers since the instant that horrendous game of Oct. 31 ended. "We" would include fans, media, and, I am sure, many of the players themselves, and we have been lusting to see a rematch between the Steelers and Patriots because, from a New England point of view, there were too many loose ends and "yeah, buts" attached to that 34-20 Pittsburgh triumph.
He, of course, doesn't think like Us. It's part of his charm. It's also part of the reason he does what he does and the rest of us do whatever it is we do. Unlike the rest of us, he leaves the emotion out of it. Once Pittsburgh was over, he began thinking about other things, like, for example, what needed fixing in order to prevent a repeat scenario the following Sunday at St. Louis.
But Bill Belichick is not the kind of guy who comes out of an Oct. 31 whipping already looking forward to a potential playoff rematch on Jan. 23. He doesn't deal in abstracts and he surely doesn't deal in revenge.
"I never really looked at it that way," he explained. "That's so far down the road. Everything would have to happen in such-and-such a way for that to come about. I would never waste any time thinking about anything like that.
"Am I happy we're playing the Steelers? Absolutely. I don't even mind playing them in Pittsburgh because it's much better than any alternative. It's an opportunity and a privilege to be playing Pittsburgh for the AFC championship. Who knows how many of these opportunities you're going to have? You just try to capture the moment, put your best foot forward, and hope the outcome comes out differently."
The truth is, no matter what he says, playing the Steelers again Jan. 23 at Heinz Field was somewhere between a good possibility and a reasonable certainty. To us, the only real impediment to such a rematch was the Colts, and now we all know they simply lacked the right stuff. We knew the Steelers were going to be there, simply because the AFC team with the No. 1 seed would not be messing with the Colts.
To us, having the No. 1 seed was a free pass to the AFC Championship game. Having the No. 2 seed meant there would be a rigorous challenge to get that far. OK, so count me among the many who overrated the Colts. Now, you may have foreseen it, but I never thought the Patriots would roll and the Steelers would need divine intervention to get by the -- ugh -- J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.
