WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia -- It wasn't that Bill Belichick forgot. He has a phenomenal memory, which he's dipped into on innumerable occasions during press conferences over the years.
During a back-and-forth with reporters at the Greenbrier before a joint practice with Houston, Belichick was asked about his relationship with Texans assistant head coach Romeo Crennel. When rattling off the names of places where he and Crennel coached together, he left the Jets out of the conversation by choice.
"Well, Romeo and I started together at the Giants in special teams, so he and I coached special teams together and then we coached defensively together through 1990," Belichick began. "We worked at the Patriots together, then another team, and then back with the Patriots in 2001."
"Another team" . . . ? Yup. Both Belichick and Crennel served on the Jets staff from 1997-1999.
We know it didn't end very well between the current Patriots head coach and his now in-division rival 200 miles to the south. And there hasn't been a lot of love lost between the two sides in the years since. Belichick's impressive bit of self-editing mid-answer on Wednesday was just a quick reminder of that.