FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Football returns tonight with the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers playing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game (ESPN, 8 p.m.), which had Bill Belichick reflecting Sunday on his first game as coach of the New England Patriots -- the 2000 Hall of Fame game.

Sparked by a question from longtime Patriots reporter Tom E. Curran, Belichick reminisced about the ’00 game in which the Patriots beat the San Francisco 49ers, 20-0.

From a Patriots perspective, it was a chance to compare sixth-round draft choice Tom Brady with 49ers seventh-round pick Tim Rattay. The 49ers had also selected quarterback Giovanni Carmazzi in the third round.

“That was an interesting game, because we started out a little bit on the Tim Rattay trail and [late quarterbacks coach] Dick Rehbein went down there and worked him out at [Louisiana Tech]. They ran a big spread offense and he had a lot of big numbers. We kind of liked him, thought that might be a late-round pick,” Belichick said.

“Then we got on Brady, so it was kind of Brady [in the late sixth round] and Rattay in that seventh round. As luck would have it, we took Brady, they took Rattay, and here they are playing against each other.”

A New York Times account of the game also served as a reminder that it was the debut of comedian Dennis Miller as a television analyst for “Monday Night Football.” The game also was built around the Hall of Fame class of 2000 -- Howie Long, Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana, Dan Rooney and Dave Wilcox.

For the Patriots, Michael Bishop received the bulk of playing time behind starter Drew Bledsoe, as Brady finished 3-of-4 for 28 yards.

Rattay was the main option for the 49ers behind starter Jeff Garcia, going 10-of-21 for 105 yards.

Looking back, Belichick said with a smile, "I guess we took the right one."