So how did Bill Belichick's dog excel in all three phases of the game on draft night?
You know: Sit. Stay. Good boy.
The doggie treats were on the table.
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On ESPN's Adam Schefter's podcast, the Patriots coach's girlfriend let the secret out of how Nike, New England's new favorite Alaskan Klee Kai, became the viral star of the draft by sitting in for his master from the kitchen table in Nantucket on draft night.
Linda Holliday said it began when she was helping set up the lighting and connections for the coach's appearance on the television coverage of the draft.
"Nantucket has very strict rules about who is coming to the island [because of the coronavirus],” Holliday said. “So, I worked with Patriots IT people and said, ‘Teach me, I’ll do lighting, I’ll do IT, I’ll do it all.
“So, I’m doing lighting and next thing I know, Bill had a couple of treats that were left over near his laptop and he stepped away from the table. And all of a sudden he looks and he goes, ‘Look, look at the table’ and there Nike was just sitting there waiting patiently and he knew his treats were there, so that’s what prompted him getting up to the table and he was just waiting patiently for the word to take his treats.”
That's when the ESPN and NFL Network cameras caught Nike sitting in the coach's chair, staring intently, not at the laptop but at whatever first-round selection he was about to make among those treats.
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Really, isn't that just great coaching? We're on to the water bowl...
By the way, Nike, the dog, had his own Instagram account (@TheSwooshDog) long before he became a viral sensation.