Belichick: Communication lines with Tom Brady have been open

In the conclusion of Tom Brady's Tom vs. Time documentary on Facebook, there appeared to be some subtle messages left for the organization when both Brady and his wife talked about themes like feeling appreciated, commitment and conviction.

If Bill Belichick heard any of those messages — if they were even meant for him — he didn't let on about it on Sunday night in Orlando at the NFL's annual meetings.

Belichick said he's had "direct conversations" with Brady in the past, and prefers to take that same approach going forward.

"I’ve had direct conversations with Tom many times, obviously, through a long period of time, and I’ll rely on those conversations with him directly (rather than) something else," Belichick said when asked about Brady's comments in the documentary.

"Tom and I have always had a good line of communication -- we’ve always been able to talk directly to each other, and don’t see that changing. I’ll rely on those (discussions) instead of anything else."

Belichick didn't say when those communications have taken place, or if they've occurred since the conclusion of a season that appeared to be a bit of a struggle.

"These last two years have been very challenging for him, in so many ways," Gisele Bundchen said in Tom vs. Time. "I think he tells me, ‘I love it so much and I just want to go to work and feel appreciated and have fun.'"

Other Belichick highlights:

Belichick wouldn't touch the future of Rob Gronkowski or elaborate on the Malcolm Butler Super Bowl decision.

On Gronkowski: "I’m not going to speak for anybody else. The conversations I’ve had with the players, and I’ve had a lot of them, I’m going to keep those quiet between myself and the players. I respect those coach to player conversations. I don’t want to speak for anybody else.

On Butler: "I have a lot of respect for Malcolm. (Since) the day he got here in rookie minicamp four years ago, he's always competed as hard as he could. He was a great competitor on the field, and I totally respect that. I'm not going to get into last year, next year, some other year. I talked to Malcolm, wished him well at Tennessee. Obviously, Mike (Vrabel) and Jon (Robinson) are great people who I have a lot of respect for in that organization; I have a lot of respect for Malcolm, and we wish him well."

Josh McDaniels' near departure to the Colts had to do with the focus on the games at hand: "We’re all focused on the game, and the weeks leading up to that, whether it was the two playoff games, the AFC championship and then the Super Bowl. I think everybody’s focus was on that. There were some other things going on, but once that game ended, I think that really gave Josh and I a chance to sit down and talk more directly about the situation as opposed to ... we really wanted to talk about the game and what we need to do to compete in that game. That’s basically what happened. Before the game, we had minimal discussions. I’d say we had much deeper and longer and more in-depth and more constructive discussions immediately after the game. ... I’m thrilled he’s still with us and is going to continue in his role. I think he’s the top offensive coordinator in the league. He’s done a great job for me for a long time in a lot of different roles."

Bedard's takeaways on those and other topics

Before we get into all the Brady stuff and other drama, my biggest takeaway from the Belichick conversation is very good news for Patriots fans:

I don’t think this guy is going to stop coaching anytime soon.

First of all, this was an unprecedented conversation for him, at least as far as I can recall. Normally, you’re not sure if Belichick will even show up at the AFC coaches’ breakfast, let alone talk to a small group of local reporters on the first night of meetings. He was relaxed (as much as he can be), and it did not seem like some chore to him.

Overall, he was extremely peppy and almost (almost) enthusiastic, even dealing with some touchier topics. And Belichick was especially enthused to talk about the team-building process and building towards the next season.

I mean, Belichick said “it’s an exciting time of year” twice and also used a version of the word enjoy another two times in the first couple of minutes.

“I enjoy all the parts of the process, from the game planning and playing the big games to evaluating the prospects to bringing the rookies in May that really have ever played or practiced in the National Football League,” Belichick said. “Starting from scratch with them and seeing them grow along the way to some of the players that we’ve seen do that. … I (like) all the process. The beginning part, bringing them in, growing with them, and working with them at an elite level. Steve Gostkowski’s, the Julian Edelman’s. Guys like that who come from one level and progress to a very elite level.”

If you didn’t know any better (and who knows, people can change), you would have sworn Belichick went on some sort of spiritual retreat with Brady. It all had a very Zen vibe to it. Belichick didn’t even snap or snort in response to some questions he would normally backhand.

“I think everything is an evolution,” Belichick said, almost in a “time is a flat circle” kind of way.

If I were a Patriots fan, my biggest takeaway would be: I have my coach for a while, and he's not slowing down. When's the season opener?

As for Belichick's comments about Brady and communication, I'm not going to go overboard in either direction. Seemed like it was a little bit parsing words — "Tom and I have always had a good line of communication — we've always talked directly to each other," — just seems hard to nail down exactly how things are right now. "I don't see that changing." Does that mean, "When we next see each other for the first time since the season ended?" Or, "We talked last week and I wouldn't see why things would change since then." Hard to tell, but at least he didn't avoid the Brady question. That's encouraging.

As for the other stuff, the McDaniels things went down as expected. People don’t get it, but when I say Belichick only concentrates on the games during the season, he only concentrates on the games during the season. McDaniels knows this, so it’s not like he would walk down the hall and knock on Bill’s door and say, “Can I get some quality time with you?” It doesn’t happen that way there.

Little disappointing he could shed any more light on Butler now that he’s gone, or Gronkowski, but the man has his ways.