The AFC Championship game was Tom Brady's flu game, his Bloody Sock performance, with the Patriots quarterback stepping up to deliver an impressive, clutch performance with a busted hand. Brady would lead the Patriots back from a 10-point, fourth quarter deficit to beat the Jaguars and advance to his eighth (!) Super Bowl since taking over as Pats quarterback. 

Naturally you would anticipate everyone got really impressed at what Brady did, elevating his game despite the mid-week injury, overcoming the odds, beating a tough defense, yada yada yada. Not Bill Belichick! 

Asked after the game about Brady's performance, the Pats coach remarked that it's not "open-heart surgery" we're talking about. The real beauty? Belichick went from smiling on the sideline back to being sullen while wearing cut-off sleeves and staring blankly at reporters.

The exchange and video:

"Bill, did anything to change gameplan-wise because of Brady's hand?"

[long silence] 

"Not that I'm aware of, Bob."

"Can you just speak to the resourcefulness of Tom, dealing with that midweek and then coming out and having a huge game like that?"

"I mean, look, Tom did a great job. And he's a tough guy. We all know that. But we're not talking about open-heart surgery."

Can you imagine a different coach answering this question? Dick Vermeil maybe -- he would espouse at length about the toughness of Brady and the way he battled back to play despite the hand injury. Same thing, I feel like, with Pete Carroll, a coach who has routinely praised Russell Wilson for stepping up in big moments when he didn't necessarily have to do so.

But this is Belichick in a nutshell. And Brady too: No. 12 didn't talk about the injury all week because, as he told CBS Sports' Jim Nantz after the game, Belichick doesn't like his team talking about injuries. Instead, Brady just covered up his hand all week, went out and did his job. 

Belichick is impressed with it, but nothing more. A guy battled through an injury in a football game. NEXT.