Making Fun of Rex Ryan's Foot Fetish a No-No for Patriots Coach Bill Belichick

New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker was benched at the beginning of the Patriots and New York Jets playoff game for comments he made that poked fun at Jets' head coach Rex Ryan's apparent foot fetish videos.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick runs a tight ship; he says little and he expects his players to say even less. Welker, though, this week acted uncharacteristically for a Patriot when he gave a double entendre laden interview that mentioned feet (or something having to do with feet, such as toes) at least eleven times. Among Welker's more memorable quotes were, "Everybody's putting their best foot forward", and about Deion Branch, "He runs some really good routes out there . . . He's another guy with great feet and can really move around".

For his part, Rex Ryan acknowledged Welker's comments during a press conference during the week, but did not really discuss them, saying, "I think this is a huge rivalry-type game and anything goes. I can take it," he said. "I'm not going to discuss it but I can take it."

While it may seem like an extreme measure to sit a key player in a big playoff game, Belichick sees things in a different prism than most. He is maniacal about finding every edge that he can, and eliminating potential distractions.

When Jets linebacker Bart Scott weighed in after Welker's comment by saying, "Be very careful what you say about our coach. His (Welker's) days in a uniform will be numbered. Put it like that."

While the Jets have filled the airwaves and blogosphere all year long with their off the field behavior and trash talk, the last thing the Patriots want, both for their on the field chances as well as their off the field marketability, want is to get caught up in a trash talking contest with the Jets. Both Belichick and his quarterback Tom Brady have been very careful to say very little all year, and all week, leading up to the game.

Welker actually only ended up missing one possession when Tom Brady was intercepted on the first possession of the game. If the Patriots go on to win the game, Welker's benching will have had no negative impact. But the memory of it will be with all future Patriots players when they are talking to the media.

The benching of Wes Welker may have been more symbolic than anything, but Bill Belichick has sent his desired message to his team.