FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick doesn't understand the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
When asked about the subject on Friday, with regards to there only being one kicker -- Jan Stenerud -- in that Hall of Fame, the Patriots coach expressed his confusion with the selection committee's criteria.
"I don't know what Hall of Fame means," said Belichick before Friday's practice. "There are guys with great, long careers. There are other guys that have very short careers, in the Hall of Fame. There are guys on championship teams. There are guys who hardly ever played on winning teams. There are guys with personal stats. There are guys with less personal stats, but maybe have more championships, more longevity. So, I don't know what the criteria is for the Hall of Fame, at any position, to be honest with you. That's something you'd have to ask the Hall of Fame committee or voters or something like that, because I don't really know. I don't know what the criteria is, I don't know if it's ever been defined. I don't know if it's a popularity contest, or if it's a political thing. I don't know what it is.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
It also sounded as if Belichick believes there should be more than just one kicker in the Hall of Fame. And not just kickers, but punters too.
"I mean, it's hard for me to believe that, as great as this game is, that there's, what, no punters and one kicker in the Hall of Fame? We can argue that they only play "x" number of plays, and everybody else plays a different number of plays. But, they're still significant players at their position," said Belichick. "But again, what the criteria is for them, I mean, I don't know.
"I'm not saying they're not deserving. I'm saying, what one guy does and what another guy does, what their careers were, relative to all the different things we talked about. I don't see any consistency, or say, they've met these three criteria, or they need to meet three of the next six criteria, or whatever it is. I don't see that, so you'll have to talk to somebody who knows a lot more about that than I do. I don't understand it."