Patriots’ Kyle Van Noy Has Hilarious Retort To Adam Thielen Controversy

Bill Belichick and Adam Thielen engaged in perhaps the most unexpected beef of the NFL season on Sunday. After, in Thielen’s words, a Patriots player went down and gave the team more time to decide if they wanted to challenge a fourth-down call, he and Belichick got into a heated exchange on the sideline that seemed to involve expletives from both sides. Thielen does not exactly have a reputation of arguing with opposing players and coaches, and Belichick is usually too wrapped up in Patriots business to engage with someone on the other side.

But the two squared off verbally in the story of the game, and many have tried to declare a winner in their bout. Kyle Van Noy named the obvious victor after the game.

“How many catches did he have?” the Patriots linebacker asked, via NESN.com’s Zack Cox. “Four for 28? There you go. That speaks for itself.”

The Patriots won the game. That, more than anything, is why Belichick won this little joust. Both teams had the same goal coming into Sunday and one team actually managed to accomplish it.

But Van Noy has a point about Thielen’s individual numbers. The Patriots build their defense around doing exactly what the did on Sunday. Against any top opponent, they will go in with the strategy that they are going to take away what that team likes to do most and make them win with secondary and tertiary options. Thielen is the best offensive player on the Vikings by far. Without him, their unit is relatively pedestrian.

Belichick knows this because he has had so many similar players. Thielen fits the mold of Wes Welker and Julian Edelman as an explosive slot receiver, though he makes more big plays than either of them did at their peaks. He has seen so many great slot receivers that he knows exactly how to stop them, and that fits in perfectly with his strategy of cutting off the head of opposing offenses. The Patriots took Thielen off of the board and the Vikings had no alternative.

Naturally, that ended any hopes they had of winning the game. They scored only 10 points, giving away a matchup that was winnable considering some of the mistakes that the Patriots made. Without Thielen dominating, the Vikings couldn’t win, and Thielen wasn’t good enough on Sunday to dominate despite Belichick’s scheme. That should tell you everything you need to know about their little battle. Belichick’s defensive game-plan beat Thielen, therefore he is the winner of their little skirmish just like he and his Patriots won this game. If Thielen wants to talk trash in the future to a five-time Super Bowl champion, he might want to wait until he and his team are doing their jobs.

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