Rumor Bill Belichick Named Patriots' Play After Girlfriend Is Highly Believable

In case you missed it in all the hubbub of holiday travel, there is a fantastic little rumor floating around the Internet that Bill Belichick gave his girlfriend, Linda Holliday, a sweet little gift: her very own Patriots audible. 

The Boston Herald's Gayle Fee (h/t The Post Game), writing for the Inside Track portion of the website, started some scuttlebutt about a touchdown play and the audible shouted before the snap. 

As the report reminds, Tom Brady barked "Cougar! Cougar! Linda!" before hooking up with Rob Gronkowski for a touchdown in the third quarter of Sunday's eventual win over the Denver Broncos, 34-31.

For those who like their dots connected, we remind that Belichick's girlfriend is 50-year-old Holliday, who is in that prime age range for a woman to be referred to, by some, as a "cougar"—despite the fact that Belichick is technically older than her at 61.

Now, before you roll your eyes right out of your head, consider this was enough for Holliday to take some questions on the play possibly bearing her name. 

"

Well, since it was obviously a good call and a well-executed play, I’ll take a tiny bit of credit — but only for a well-named play. Seriously, the whole team played hard and we all couldn’t be happier, right?

"

She also tweeted that this is all just a funny little rumor, and Coach Belichick isn't actually naming plays after her. 

According to the report, the rumor was running rampant and Brady had to actually entertain the idea on Tuesday when he spoke with WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan.

While Holliday was playfully dismissive, Brady downright tap-danced around the subject: 

"

We’ve got a lot of calls at the line of scrimmage, some are protection calls, some are calls where we’re directing guys, we got run calls, we got pass calls, we got protection calls, we got dummy calls, so you don’t get locked into one or two things ... we ended up using them all.

"

Now to be fair, this could be the kind of coincidence that comes when social media and in-game technology combine to provide such nonsense. 

Fans from home get to listen in thanks to microphones that pick up more and more of the barks, grunts and calls from the line. 

Really, this was bound to happen. 

However, if we are giving our own unofficial, uninformed opinion, we have to believe Belichick tipped his hat to his lovely lady. 

While we are here buying roses and squiring our significant others around town, Belichick has an NFL team at his disposal, and one led by Tom Brady. Last we checked, he is fairly competent at this quarterbacking stuff. 

It stands to reason that he might at least throw a "Linda" into the mix for giggles (Belichick giggles, right?).

The Hoodie has a heart, and he may have just gifted his girlfriend her very own play. Hey, it beats naming a star after her. 

Because I don't have my very own professional football team, I haven't yet named a play after my wife—although she may get a special avatar in Madden now. And that should take care of Christmas.