Bill Belichick claims he didn’t compare Rhamondre Stevenson to Tom Brady, Lawrence Taylor

Last Thursday’s game between the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings saw NBC color commentator Jason Garrett tell a story from the pre-game production meeting with Patriots coach Bill Belichick. In that meeting, Belichick apparently had some lofty praise for running back Rhamondre Stevenson.

“It was incredible. He went on and on and on,” Garrett recalled on the broadcast. “And Coach doesn’t speak a lot in those production meetings, but he probably talked about Rhamondre for 15 minutes, and he compared his growth and his development in a short period of time to both Tom Brady and to Lawrence Taylor.”

On Sunday, Belichick was asked about those statements. It appears he does not remember the meeting the same way Garrett did.

Q: Staying with Rhamondre, Jason Garrett mentioned on the NBC broadcast in your production meeting you compared, in his words, Rhamondre’s growth and development in such a short span to Tom Brady’s and Lawrence Taylor’s. If that’s true, can you expand upon that?

BB: I’m not sure. You’d have to talk to Jason about that.

Q: Well, that was his claim that what you said.

BB: Yeah, I don’t really remember it quite that way.

Q: Was that inaccurate?

BB: Yeah, I don’t — I mean not the way you phrased that. I don’t remember it quite that way. No.

Q: How do you remember it?

BB: I mean you’re talking about players who play completely different positions.

Regardless of what Belichick has or hasn’t said about Stevenson, the second-year running back is in the middle of an impressive season. Serving as New England’s No. 1 running back, he ranks first on the team with 1,039 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns.