Belichick's play-fake with Vick ingenious

Some of you believe that New England coach Bill Belichick is a cross between a Sleestack and troglodyte. He's a Sloglodyte.

Some of you would rather floss with Rachel Alexandra's tail than acknowledge Belichick's big brain.

It's not a matter of if but rather when Bill Belichick will deceive again. (Getty Images)

That's fine. Hate away. Admittedly, sometimes, Belichick's behavior and Spy-Cam fetish make him difficult to defend.

But no matter what you think of Belichick, only a fool would refuse to acknowledge the gigantic piece of wool he slickly pulled over the eyes of the NFL and some in the media with his well-acted, feigned interest in The Dog Whisperer, Michael Vick.

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Belichick played a lot of people for stone, cold suckers.

What Belichick did with Vick demonstrated, yet again, that Belichick isn't just the best tactician on the field, he's also a master at screwing with people's heads off of it.

When Belichick was asked about Vick he praised the quarterback in what appeared to be -- for Belichick at least -- an open declaration of Vick lust.

"Michael is an outstanding player, hasn't played in a couple of years," Belichick said. "But right now, our focus is on our team and our players and trying to get the New England Patriots ready, and so that's really where my attention's been. But he's a tremendous athlete. Where exactly he is right now, I don't know."

Belichick could've easily expressed his non-interest just like dozens of other clubs. Belichick's comments purposely gave the impression he wasn't ruling Vick out.

Reporters put Belichick's words through the various Belichick ciphers and concluded the Patriots coach was interested. Thus the rumors of Vick to the Patriots gained steam across the Internet with irrational exuberance. Vick even crossed into Elvis territory when one newspaper reported Vick was actually in New England practicing. He wasn't.

Somewhere -- and this is guaranteed -- as the Patriots and Vick rumors swelled Belichick was laughing his diabolical ass off.

Because according to an NFL source, Belichick never had any terrific interest in Vick. He just wanted other teams to think he did.

Why? Belichick enjoys toying with his competitors and the media the way a cat does a mouse before finally lowering the boom.

And because many of the teams in football fear Belichick they fall right into his traps. (Cue the Dr. Evil laugh.) One NFL coach told me outright the only person in the entire league that scares him is Belichick. That coach is likely not alone.

This is also another guarantee. Upon hearing or reading in the media that Belichick could be interested in Vick, teams that weren't suddenly were, and teams that already were suddenly wanted him even more. That's the Belichick Effect.

Belichick believes in the motto: Fortune favors the bold ... or rather, fortune favors the bull---- artists. He blends higher brain power with street smarts and has always enjoyed a good game of subterfuge. Sometimes Belichick crosses the line (Spygate), many times he just says or does things specifically to cause teams second thoughts (like Belichick not shaking Eric Mangini's hand postgame several years ago).

When Belichick is vague describing injured Patriots players (and that's putting it generously) he isn't doing so solely to hoard injury information but to also keep the other team guessing. Belichick is notorious for complimenting teams excessively before playing them hoping he can get one opposing sucker to bite.

Floating propaganda is as common in football as pulled hamstrings, and few are better at crafting believable nonsense than Belichick. Trust me: That's a compliment.

The end result of the attempt is almost irrelevant because it's always good to keep your opponents guessing. By ruling Vick out, the guessing ends. By being purposely vague, like Belichick, the guessing continues.

In Belichick's mind, even if he caused one team to spend 1 percent of one day to contemplate the Patriots with Vick he won.

Hell, Belichick reasons, maybe I can even sucker a team into thinking: We had better sign Vick before the Patriots do.

It was confirmed that Belichick's words were a great big bluff when owner Robert Kraft just a short time later publicly declared the Patriots' interest in Vick deader than Richard Nixon.

Could Vick end up in New England? Hell, anything's possible, especially with Belichick.

It's more likely that once again we saw Belichick being Belichick.