Ten weeks after being discarded by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Aqib Talib is flourishing in New England, where he is being treated as the second coming of Deion Sanders.

Sanders, a Hall of Fame cornerback, gained fame by backing up his bragging with a rare ability to contain the opposition’s premier wide receiver. Since the Bucs traded. New England coach Bill Belichick hasn’t stopped gushing about his new shut-down corner.

“I like him and the team likes him,’‘ Belichick said Wednesday as the Pats prepared for Sunday’s AFC title game against Baltimore. “He’s a good football player, a good teammate and he’s very well, respected because of his professionalism. He’s a good guy to be around.’‘

In the first playoff game of Talib’s five-year career, he registered a team-high 10 tackles on Sunday in a 41-28 victory against Houston while jawing incessantly with six-time Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson

 “If you’re a cornerback and you don’t want to go after their best receiver, you’re in the wrong business,’‘ Talib said after Johnson caught eight passes for 95 yards, but failed to reach the end zone. “It showed my coach has got a little confidence in me. I can’t complain about that.’‘