Bill Belichick claims he didn’t know Andrew Luck retired

Andrew Luck making the shocking decision to retire at age 29 sent the sports world into a frenzy over the weekend, but New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick claims he somehow missed the news that one of the best quarterbacks in the AFC has called it a career.

On Monday, a reporter asked Belichick if he has any thoughts on Luck’s retirement. The three-time Coach of the Year claimed he “didn’t see it” but said he respects the decision.

Belichick asked about Andrew Luck, and it went about as you’d expect.

“I didn’t see that, but I don’t really follow them.”

(h/t @DougKyed) pic.twitter.com/KEl1EP5IeT

— Tucker Boynton (@Tucker_TnL) August 26, 2019

That is classic Belichick, and almost no one is going to believe he was unaware Luck had retired until a reporter asked him about it. You don’t win six Super Bowls as the head coach of a team by being that oblivious, and Belichick is a master at playing coy. The Patriots also have a long and tense history with the Colts in large part because of the Deflategate scandal, so that could have been Belichick’s way of trying to make them sound irrelevant.

Either way, he almost certainly knew. Belichick has already been in peak form in recent days with the way he has dealt with the media, and this is just the latest example of that.

UPDATE: The Patriots have clarified Belichick’s remarks about Luck.