Bill Belichick is a Hall of Fame coach. He’s also a cheater, home-wrecker and classless jerk.

LaDainian Tomlinson’s words following New England’s victory in the playoffs against San Diego last year ring even more true after Belichick ran up the score against Joe Gibbs and Washington this past Sunday.

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“… They showed no class at all,” Tomlinson said about the Patriots. “Absolutely no class. And maybe that comes from their head coach. So you know, there you have it.”

Tell me another NFL coach who would have his starting quarterback still in the game leading 38-0? And it wasn’t like Tom Brady was handing off. He was throwing from spread formations and sneaking on fourth down.

Then when Brady finally got his last meaningless touchdown, Belichick still didn’t back off. There was backup quarterback Matt Cassel throwing at will, including on fourth down, before eventually running up another touchdown in a 52-7 massacre of the Redskins.

Perhaps this shouldn’t have been surprising considering Belichick ran up the score the previous week against Miami, bringing Brady back in the game to throw another touchdown pass up 21 points in the fourth quarter. The week before that New England hung 48 points on Dallas, embarrassing the Cowboys on national television.

When a class act like Gibbs doesn’t shake your hand, you know you’ve crossed the line of decency.

But what do you expect from Belichick, a man who has taken fudging on injury reports to a new level.

Maybe Belichick still is fuming about being caught having his personnel videotape the New York Jets’ defensive signals, for which he was personally fined half a million dollars. Some believe Belichick and the Patriots got off easy just losing a first-round draft choice instead of a suspension occurring.

Who knows for how long and how many games Belichick had been violating this NFL rule? Chances are it happened far more than just in the Jets game.

This is in line with a morally bankrupt individual such as Belichick. Don’t look for Vincent Shenocca, a 42-year-old New Jersey construction worker, to disagree. Belichick contributed to the breakup of Shenocca’s marriage being named The Other Man in Shenocca’s divorce case.

Belichick’s Patriots never had this much talent before. They are the greatest team of the free agency era. But I had a lot more respect for Belichick and the Patriots when they won their three Super Bowls in 2001, 2003 and 2004 by modest means.

Those teams, especially the 2001 champions that upset the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl, seemed to win in a low-key, classy fashion by outsmarting their opponent and playing as a total team.

Belichick may not have had the most talented teams when he won those Super Bowls, but he certainly does now with Randy Moss regaining his status as the premier wide receiver in the NFL.

Instead of following his own successful blueprint of winning without making waves, Belichick is becoming high-profile in the most negative ways.

He’s creating a lot of bad karma. Like life, karma has a way of catching up. What goes around comes around eventually.

Not all opposing coaches are gentlemen like Gibbs. The Patriots play Indianapolis this week. The Colts’ defensive line coach is John Teerlinck, who has a notorious reputation for coaching cheap shots.

It would be at Brady’s own peril if he’s still throwing passes during garbage time in a game that already has been easily won. Belichick is flirting with disaster if he keeps this up.

The Patriots have December games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh. See how those team’s proud defenses react to having a score run up on them. New England still has a game left with the Jets. Their coach, Eric Mangini, isn’t exactly bosom buddies anymore with Belichick.

If Brady should get hurt while left in during a one-sided victory to pad his statistics and satisfy Belichick’s warped ego, there would be no sympathy. There also might not be another championship, which at this point, seems preordained.

Belichick’s football genius has put the Patriots in this grand position. Insanity could ruin it.