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I have heard Bill Belichick say some warm and grateful things about Harry Carson, about Bill Parcells, about Scott Pioli—those are the ones that come to mind; I’m sure there have been others. But I have never heard Belichick praise another person the way he praised Bruschi at the podium on this hot Massachusetts night. “There’s great players and then there’s great players, and Tedy Bruschi was a great, great football player, because of his passion, his team attitude toward the game. All second to none,’’ Belichick said. “There is no player I’ve ever coached that epitomizes a football player … When I look at the words ‘football player’ in the dictionary, you see Tedy Bruschi’s picture there. That’s the best way I can put it.”

Q: Is tight end traditionally a difficult position to acclimate yourself to in this offense because of the number of responsibilities?

BB: I think it’s one of the most difficult positions in any offense. Any time you change formations, that player is really at the heart of the changes. You usually, the backs are usually in the backfield, other than some empty plays. The receivers are usually detached, other than some close formation plays. Normally the tight end or tight ends, they’re involved in a lot of the formation variations, which then involve them in a lot of different assignments. Basically they’re involved in the passing game, the running game, pass protection, blitz adjustments, all the multiple tight end personnel groups like goal line and short-yardage and four-minute offense and things like that in addition to their, as bigger players, their roles in the kicking game. It’s really hard to get around, you might be able to get around a part of that, but not too many parts of it. Or else the guy is a receiver or he’s an offensive lineman. That’s really what it comes down to. Sure, that position takes a lot. It takes a lot, there are a lot of assignments, there are a lot of adjustments. They have a lot of different responsibilities.