Bill Belichick Says Aaron Dobson Was Benched for 'Football' Reasons

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick typically preaches to his players to 'ignore the noise,' but that's become especially difficult at Gillette Stadium over the past few days.

In light of a recent report from The Boston Globe that wide receiver Aaron Dobson had been inactive for the past two games after 'mouthing off' to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Belichick was asked on Friday whether Dobson was benched for disciplinary or football reasons. The head coach replied simply: 'Football.'

Why, then, has Dobson been benched? We will have to wait to find out.

Belichick was also asked whether there had been any incident between McDaniels and Dobson, and the head coach replied: 'No, and I will have a comment on that later.'

The Boston Globe report indicated that there had been at least 'one loud disagreement' between Dobson and McDaniels, while adding that there are some concerns about Dobson's maturity.

The conflicting reports lead to some confusion as to the true reason for Dobson's benching. It would be hard to believe it is performance-related; he was the most productive rookie Patriots receiver in the Tom Brady era, catching 37 passes for 519 yards and four touchdowns in 2013. He has been active for only one game this season, and caught one pass for 13 yards, so we have yet to see whether he can take that next step in his development.

Dobson dealt with a foot injury last season, and had offseason surgery to repair it. Perhaps there was a setback along the way in his recovery, but he has not been listed on the team's injury report at all since the start of the season.

We will have an update when Belichick and the Patriots issue their statement on Dobson and the report.

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