Thursday night's broadcast of the New England Patriots' win over the Atlanta Falcons had plenty of notable moments, from Kyle Van Noy dropping the mic on a heckling fan to Mark Sanchez not knowing who coaches the Patriots defense.
With all that going on, Troy Aikman wasn't going to be left out.
The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback raised a few eyebrows during the game when he predicted Patriots head coach Bill Belichick "has his new signal-caller for the next 15, 18 years" in rookie quarterback Mac Jones. Understandably, Aikman got raked on social media, mostly for anticipating a 23-year-old having a solid-but-not-otherworldly freshman campaign was locked in for roughly the next two decades.
But doing the math, there's also this: 18 years from now, Belichick will be 87 years old.
Far be it from anyone who's watched the Patriots dynasty of the last 20 years to doubt His Hoodieness, but even the most diehard Patriots fan would have a hard time believing Belichick will still be New England's head coach when he's creeping up on 90 years old.
To be fair to Aikman, he likely didn't intend to suggest Belichick would still be coaching as he approaches the century mark. But he did say Jones would be "his" signal-caller, which implies not only Jones still would be active in 15-18 years, but Belichick as well.
And let's be honest, it's more fun to chuckle at a slip of the tongue.
Then again, maybe Aikman, the hall of fame quarterback, knows something the rest of us don't. If anybody could defy Father Time and continue working well past the age most coaches retire, it would be the guy who worked with Tom Brady, who is doing the quarterback version of exactly that.
