Linda Holliday, Bill Belichick's Girlfriend, Snaps Back At Instagram Comment About Tom Brady

BOSTON (CBS) -- With Tom Brady set to play in the conference championship this weekend, it figures to be a rough week for the decision-makers -- or, decision-maker -- who let him leave the Patriots. Fortunately for Bill Belichick, though, his partner has his back.

Linda Holliday, Belichick's longtime girlfriend, shared an Instagram post on New Year's Day, with a positive caption reflecting on a unique year. Yet when one Instagram user pointed out that it's "too bad Bill let Tom go," Holliday fiercely clapped back.

"And you have all the answers evidently?" Holliday replied. "Tom didn't score [Sunday] night ... not once! Defense won that game. Were you even watching. [On the other hand] - I'm happy for Tom's career! Why can't you be?"

Putting aside some factual inaccuracies -- Brady threw two touchdowns and ran for one more in the Bucs' 30-20 win in New Orleans -- the support for Belichick was unmistakable.

It's worth noting that Holliday replied to dozens of comments under the post, all of which were of the positive variety. This one in particular, though, stood out for obvious reasons, and quickly spread on Twitter and Boston sports talk radio.

"You knew he's feeling it," 98.5 The Sports Hub host Michael Felger said shortly after the tweet surfaced on Tuesday, regarding Belichick sensing growing criticism for the decision. "So, he's feeling it, because you know he's in front of the TV when Linda's next to him. You know they're feeling it. ... Now it's there. Now here it is. Now everyone is paying attention and everyone is now getting it, like, 'Huh, yeah, you let him go."

"This is unbelievable to me. Bill can't be happy about this," co-host Tony Massarotti said. "What are you doing, like, in the middle of this whole thing? Linda Holliday is going to go on there and all of a sudden start throwing rocks at Brady?"

And speaking of Twitter, it appears as though Holliday's account on that social media platform has been shut down, as of Wednesday morning.

Whether that's temporary or completely unrelated to the Instagram comment is unknown.

Also of note: Holliday's two posts on Instagram since the New Year's Day photo have had comments disabled.

UPDATE: Late Wednesday morning, Holliday said that she'll be making her account private, due to harassment.

"My account will be going private in the next few hours. I am exhausted by the number of trolls and cruel people who have hammered my social media accounts recently," she wrote. "I'm not 'embarrassed' by anything that I've said. In fact, several news outlets understood what I meant about defensive TD's and validated it. BUT, I am tired of trolls!! I'm not sure when it became OK to verbally abuse and harass people on social media. I look forward to staying connected with my personal friends."