"Going into yesterday's retirement press conference, most believed Tedy Bruschi would be the one to lose it. After all, he tends to get emotional.

As it turns out, he was fine. It was Bill Belichick who cracked.

The normally stoic coach choked back tears as he spoke about his longtime defensive captain. His voice wavered at times, and he needed to pause repeatedly during his eloquent soliloquy to keep composed.

It was a Belichick rarely seen.

The show of emotion just underscored what Bruschi meant to the Pats coach.

"I've had the privilege of coaching a lot of great players and leaders in the National Football League, and I'll just put Tedy up there with all of them and above all of them," Belichick said to open his remarks. "There's no player that I think epitomizes more of what I believe a player should be on the field, off the field, really, in every situation.""