Before you run to your keyboard and rip off a vicious, anonymous comment/e-mail/tweet, let me start with a disclaimer and own up to the obvious:

I like Bill Belichick and believe he’s the best coach/strategist/thinker we’ve had since Red Auerbach, maybe ever. I wish I knew him better and have always thought he’d be a fascinating guy to ride shotgun with on a drive to Florida. Belichick knows one hundred million times more football than I know.

Now that we have that out of the way, let me say that there’s no place for Belichick’s boorish, bullying response to a fair question regarding not taking Tom Brady out at the end of Sunday’s blowout vs. the chippy, dirty Dolphins. Furthermore, it’s fair to ask if maybe the Patriots are being arrogant and reckless in the belief that New England’s 40-year-old quarterback is impervious to injury and the aging issues that impact the rest of humanity.

Belichick was out of bounds when he dismissed the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian for asking about maybe taking Brady off the field when it was 35-17 with less than five minutes left. Meanwhile, Brady and the Patriots — in their cult-like belief that Tom cannot get hurt — are asking for trouble by continuing to expose Brady to unnecessary assaults. Like the 1972 Dolphins, Father Time is undefeated.

Everybody rags on the media. Got it. It amazes me when people who crave information about the Patriots turn out to be the same people who celebrate when Belichick gives reporters the finger, but there’s no sense baying at the moon over that one. As the famous philosopher “Amos Alonzo’’ Sartre once said, “It is what it is.’’ That said, there is no excuse for Belichick’s odious reaction when Guregian asked him for his thoughts about perhaps removing Brady “late with the score out of hand.’’

“What — on the kneeldowns?’’ Belichick sneered. “What difference does it make?’’

Guregian stood her ground and came back with, “What about before that?’’

This is when Bill delivered the whopper — a mean-spirited remark that he knows is not true.

“It’s easy for you to sit there and say the game’s out of hand,’’ he started. “If you watch games in the National Football League, a lot can change in a hurry. The only time I think the game is in hand is when they’re not going to have enough possessions to get the number of points that they need. Sorry, we just see that one totally differently.’’

First of all, Guregian is not some stooge sent to Foxborough to provoke the coach with stupid questions. She is a seasoned, no-nonsense reporter who has played it down the middle in decades of New England sports coverage. She is at Gillette virtually every day and worthy of far more respect than Belichick offered. She was not taking any position with her question. She was simply asking something that fans and commentators — Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, for one — were wondering.

Secondly, Belichick’s answer is patently false. There was no time for Miami to recover in that game. They trailed by 18 points with less than five minutes left when Brady returned to the field for New England’s next-to-last offensive series. According to Pro Football Reference, NFL teams that trailed by 18 or more points with less than five minutes left are 0-988 in 988 regular-season games since 1999.

Brady did not do anything risky in those final two series. Three handoffs, then three kneeldowns. But why would he be out there at all — especially against an opponent with nothing to lose, an opponent with a raft of cheap-shot artists delivering vicious hits all day?

This is the way Belichick, Brady, and the Patriots have done business for 17 years. Players play. Brady simply isn’t coming out of any game.

Scott Zolak has another theory.

“Bill wasn’t happy with things at the end of that game,’’ said the former Patriots QB. “He’s sending that message to the team by keeping Tom out there. Brian Hoyer played at the end of the Denver and Oakland games, but this one was different. Bill wanted them to know their play wasn’t OK.’’

Swell. But Brady was pummeled in the Miami game. He repeatedly was left to fend for himself in an empty backfield. The Patriots kept putting him in harm’s way because Brady and the team seem to believe he is bulletproof. Even at 40.

There are going to be several more of these meaningless moments between now and the playoffs. We’ll see the Bills twice, the Jets, and Miami again. There will be a lot of plays in lopsided games against the perennial bums of the AFC East. How many snaps will Brady take? How many more hits will he endure before the plays start to matter and the games actually count again?

Luckily for Patriots fans, there is no need to manage Brady’s exposure or his playing time. According to Bill Belichick, “If you watch games in the NFL,’’ you know that no lead is ever safe and that Tom Brady is never going to get hurt.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.