FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Normally, family questions are off limits for Bill Belichick during his weekly gatherings with the news media. He made a slight exception this week, although he might not quite see it in that light.

Belichick fielded 54 questions over four days, two days of conference calls and two days of news briefings. One of those 54 questions dealt with his surrogate son, Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed. He loves Ed Reed.

O.K., Belichick is not alone in his reverence of Reed, the Ravens’ perennial All-Pro. Who doesn’t like Reed? But this is as close to a man-crush as there is for the otherwise taciturn Belichick, at least given his excessive praise of opposing players over the years.

He lauds them all, of course. That’s part of the Belichick Way. But you can tell when he means it and you can tell when he’s being bromidic, which is much of the time. But he saves a little something for Reed.