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The world watched and laughed Thursday evening as Bill Belichick dialed up yet another incredible gameplan featuring a young quarterback against a powerful defense, proving once and for all he's playing chess while we're all in the middle of a really fun checkers game.

Utilizing read-option plays and the sneaky athleticism of rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett, Belichick lit up the Houston Texans, 27-0, in Foxborough. Brissett even found the end zone himself, scoring on a long 27-yard rush to put the Pats up 10-0.

That was the longest touchdown run by a Patriots quarterback since 1967.

Let's see it from the end-zone perspective.

You better believe he kept that football -- OH NO WHY ARE YOU GIVING IT AWAY JACOBY?

That's right -- after scoring the first touchdown of his NFL career, Brissett did the most Patriots thing ever, walking to the sideline and handing the football to Belichick.

But why? Because that was his job, obviously.

"I was supposed to give him the ball. Make sure [the Texans] don't get it," Brissett said after the game. "Make sure we get it. So I gave it to him."

Belichick appreciated Brissett doing what he was supposed to do, especially because it meant the Patriots were put in a good position to win. Seriously: it sounds cliché, but Brissett did his job and the Pats were put in a good position because of it. That shouldn't be lost in the fawning over Belichick.

Oh and Bill said he was just holding the football for Jacoby.

"I think he handled himself great last week, this week, all week, every day. He's done nothing but come in here and work as hard as he possibly can -- when we had three quarterbacks -- to take his opportunities and learn from the other two guys, when it was him and Jimmy [Garoppolo] and then this week it was pretty much all him," Belichick said of the rookie quarterback. "He's just a hard-working kid that is really dedicated to doing what's right for the team and trying to improve on anything that you tell him. He just wants to do what the coach tells him to do. I'm glad we have him.

"Yeah, I was just holding the ball for him. That's his ball. That's his first touchdown ball, so that'll go up on his trophy [case]."

So, yes, after the game he gave Brissett the ball back.

"Yeah, of course; just like I did with Troy Brown and Asante Samuel and those other guys," Belichick said.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to believe Belichick kept all these first-touchdown footballs and used them as a White Walker-style sacrifice to keep the football gods at bay. If you saw him walking into the woods and setting a swaddled football down, you wouldn't bat an eye.

But the football will be Brissett's. Because he did his job.