Patriots coach Bill Belichick reserves his praise for only the rarest of opposing players. He's shown an affinity for players like Jason Taylor, Jason Witten, Ed Reed, Peyton Manning, and the like. You know, Hall of Fame-level players.

Another one of his favorites is Larry Fitzgerald.

Earlier this season, Belichick said of Fitzgerald: "I think he's a Hall of Fame receiver. One of the best that's played the game over this past period of time that he's been in the league."

And this came after Belichick had already said of Fitz back in 2012: "He does everything well. He's a great receiver. He'll go down as one of the all-time greats. He might end up as the best one ever, I don't know. You have no idea where he's going to line up from play to play. He has a very big route tree. He runs all the routes ... one route sets up another. It's very hard to find him. It's very hard to defend him."

So when Belichick compares Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Fitzgerald, you know he's got a ton of respect for the fourth-year wideout that the Patriots will face in Saturday's divisional playoff game.

In three career games against the Patriots, Hopkins has only nine catches for 185 yards -- numbers far below his usual standard. You know Belichick must think a great deal of Hopkins to still lavish the "Fitzgerald-type receiver" praise on him despite subpar performance against Belichick's own team. And indeed, Hopkins has generally been awesome when given even a moderate chance of catching the football by the revolving door of below-average QBs with whom he's played. Belichick's a goo- enough eye for talent to know it when he sees it, and he certainly appears to see it in Hopkins.