There are botched handoffs ... and there's what transpired on the New England Patriots' sideline on Sunday afternoon.
One of the last highlights of New England's 38-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns was Tyquan Thornton's 19-yard scoring rush that gave the Patriots a permanent double-digit lead. The score came immediately after a muffed Cleveland punt, which was recovered by Brenden Schooler deep in Browns territory.
CBS cameras caught a humorous scene on the sidelines in which Schooler, an undrafted rookie who has made a name for himself as a special teamer, tried to gift the recovered ball to Bill Belichick. The almost eternally stoic Belichick looked perplexed as Schooler presented his gift, which was retained by a staffer who more or less escorted the rookie away from the head coach.
Belichick addressed the rejection during his weekly appearance on "The Greg Hill Show" on WEEI. While he more or less mandated that Schooler act like he had been there before (and he has, having previously recovered a crucial fumble on a punt return during the Patriots' September win over Pittsburgh), Belichick couldn't help but crack a smile upon being reminded of Schooler's gift.
“It’s always exciting for guys to make plays and exciting for all of us,” Belichick said. “We’re happy when we make them. But yeah, just gotta move on, go to the next play.”
Schooler explained his side of the exchange in Sunday's aftermath: it was meant to be a multi-layered gift to Belichick, who earned the 324th victory of his career (tying George Halas for the second-most all-time) at the site of his first head coaching post.
"it was obviously a big game for him coming back to Cleveland,” Schooler said, per NESN. “So, (it was) just a nice gesture: ‘Here’s the game ball.’ But I think I was a little too excited.”
Schooler admitted that he probably should've waited until after the game to present his keepsake to Belichick.
"I think I should’ve waited a couple of minutes to go give it to him.”
Winners of two in a row, the Patriots (3-3) will return to action next Monday night when they battle the Chicago Bears in an interconference matchup (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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