Bill Belichick can be cold-blooded. Just a couple months ago, he shipped off star linebacker Jamie Collins to the lowly Browns for a bag of peanuts after rumors swirled that Collins wasn’t fully embracing the ‘Patriot Way.’
That’s why this prank Matt Light, a retired three-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle for the Pats, played on safety Brandon Meriweather before the 2009 Pro Bowl could have ended in Meriweather being traded to the CFL. But it makes it even more hilarious.
Meriweather was drinking at the hotel with Ray Lewis and other NFL vets when Light decided to spice things up. Belichick was coaching the AFC that year and Light told Meriweather that it was customary for the coach to reward his players by picking up the bar tab.
I’ll let Light take it from here, via CSN NE:
“It’s a table full of veterans. All the guys are cutting up, having a good time. This is right around the pool,” Light said.
“[Meriweather]’s kind of the young guy, kind of the odd man out, and he’s not saying much. He’s just laughing, joining in the festivities, and I walked over to him and — I [had seen] him order a drink from the waitress — I said, ‘Hey man, you do know that you can put all this on Bill’s room, right?’ Now you’ve got to remember, Belichick and the entire staff were coaching the AFC.‘
“Now I go up there saying that just busting his chops. I didn’t really know what was going to happen, but I figured I’d plant that seed. He looks at me and he says, ‘Are you serious?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, man. You don’t ever pay for your drinks when your coach is here coaching.’ I’m like, ‘Come on. Come on, rook.’ So I walk away; I’m not thinking anything of it.”
Light said he and Wes Welker then witnessed the exchanged of a drunk Meriweather thanking a very confused Belichick and Linda Holliday for the gesture.
“Fast forward like four or five hours,” Light said. “I literally witnessed him walk up to Bill with his check, like the little card that has your bill in it, and hand it to coach Belichick and say, ‘Hey, thank you coach. I appreciate you,’ in a way only that he could do it. Like you could imagine what that conversation looked like.
“And I’ll never forget — Bill’s looking at him like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But Linda’s like, ‘Go ahead, take care of the tab. Help him out, right?’ It was the most uncomfortable awkward moment I’ve ever witnessed with coach.”
Light described watching the scene unfold as “one of the finest moments of his life.”
[h/t CSN NE]