Belichick says Welker tried to ‘take out’ CB

(AP) — The collision that knocked Aqib Talib out of the AFC championship game reverberated Monday when Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wes Welker tried to “take out” the star cornerback.
Belichick took the shot at his former wide receiver after viewing video of the second-quarter play in the Denver Broncos’ 26-16 win on Sunday. Coming from opposite sides, the players ran into each other. No penalty was called.
It “was a deliberate play by the receiver to take out Aqib, no attempt to get open,” Belichick said during his opening statement at his season-ending news conference.
“I’ll let the league handle the discipline on that play. It’s not for me to decide, but it’s one of the worst plays I’ve seen. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday, “If there is any discipline for plays in (Sunday’s) games, it will be determined by Merton Hanks later in the week.”
Hanks is the league’s vice president of player operations.
Welker, who had a cool relationship with Belichick before leaving New England as a free agent last offseason, was not available for comment Monday.
But after the game, he said, “it was one of those plays where it’s kind of a rub play and I was trying to get him to go over the top, and I think he was thinking the same thing and wanted to come underneath and we just kind of collided. ... It wasn’t a deal where I was trying to hit him or anything like that.”
After Talib left with a knee injury, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning took advantage of having the much shorter Alfonzo Dennard covering receivers Talib normally would handle. The previous season, a thigh injury ended Talib’s day in the first quarter of the AFC championship game, a 28-13 loss to Baltimore.