If one thing was made clear during the New England Patriots' trip to Green Bay, it's that there's a tremendous amount of mutual respect between Pats head coach Bill Belichick and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers sang Belichick's praises prior to the Week 4 matchup, calling him "the best coach in the history of the game." They had a lengthy chat on the field after the Packers' 27-24 overtime win, which Belichick attributed to Rodgers "making throws only Rodgers can make."
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The lovefest didn't stop there. On Tuesday, Rodgers reiterated his respect for Belichick during his appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show".
"Bill is such a legend," Rodgers said. "He started coaching long before I got into the league. I knew who he was, obviously an incredible success. But just being ahead of the curve the way he has with his defensive styles and innovation. He's just a fantastic, fantastic coach. Also, ahead of the curve on media. The way that he handles the media has been legendary for decades now."
In addition to their postgame embrace, Rodgers and Belichick shared a moment before kickoff at Lambeau Field. That interaction stood out as a meaningful one for the future Hall of Famer.
"The thing that touched me that I really appreciated was him coming over pregame," Rodgers said. "Because postgame, you're always going to have a moment with the other quarterback or head coach, but there's so many cameras and microphones, it's hard to have a real conversation. But he stopped over when we just started our throwing lines and got to chat for 45 seconds or a minute, and that was really meaningful because there's no cameras around, there's no microphones. Just being able to have a good conversation, share mutual respect and admiration like that was really cool.
"And obviously, he's a phenomenal coach. Those guys were ready to play and they shut us down in the first half and kept us out of the rhythm. The second half we got things rolling and started to put some things together, hit some plays, finally hit some throws and looked kind of more like ourselves. But I've got so much respect for Bill."
Rodgers added that Belichick is one of the few coaches he keeps in touch with, along with former Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli.
"I think there’s a lot of coaches like that, maybe a half dozen or so that I’ve met up with in the offseasons, or talked to postgame that you have a lot of respect for, you’ve gone against.”
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Rodgers and the Packers (3-1) will head across the pond to London for their Week 5 showdown with the New York Giants. As for Belichick and the Patriots, they'll look to earn their second win of the campaign when they host the Lions next Sunday.