Following a press conference by head coach Bill Belichick, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady spoke to the media about teammate Aaron Hernandez for the first time since Hernandez’s arrest.
Aaron Hernandez was charged with first-degree murder on June 26, and until recently the New England Patriots have been relatively quiet on the subject. At a press conference Wednesday, Belichick said that he was “Personally hurt and disappointed” in regards to the impending court case.
“Personally, I’m challenged by decisions that affect the team on a daily basis, and I’m not perfect on that, either,” Belichick added. “But I always try to do what I think is best for the football team.”
The Patriots released Hernandez following his arrest, just before Hernandez entered his plea of not guilty before a live national television audience.
Quarterback Tom Brady was rather emotional today when discussing his former teammate.
“I think everyone had a certain range of emotions (when they heard the news about Hernandez), and those were really personal, and I’ve dealt with them,” Brady said. “At some point you have to move forward, and I think we as a team are doing that.”
“It’s a terrible thing that happened, Brady continued, “Look, in the city of Boston this year, what happened in the marathon, these are very terrible things that you wish never happen to anybody. There’s a very human, compassionate element that we all have, and when it’s someone that’s been on our team, it’s a very sad thing. I think that we, as a team, have tried to move forward with better awareness and understanding of these types of things. Hopefully, nothing like this happens again.”
Brady also talked about football related topics at the press conference, and stated that he is happy to put the past month’s worth of distractions behind him, and get back to football.
“But I’d say for this team, we’re focused on our job and what we have to do to come out and win football games. Certainly, it’s a very tragic thing that happened and someone loses their life. But all of those things were out of the players’ control here. We’re not really apart of that situation so I don’t think it does a lot for us to get involved here.”
The current New England Patriots will get back to business at training camp. Hernandez will continue to be held without bail until he is scheduled to be back in court on Aug 22 for a probable cause hearing. If indicted, Hernandez’s case will move to the Massachusetts superior court.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old Boston semi-professional football player whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home.
