So unless your New Years resolution for 2018 was to turn off all devices, ignore the internet, and in general avoid humanity you know that ESPN published a nuclear bomb (topical metaphor) of an article regarding the three-headed relationship between Belichick, Brady, and Mr. Kraft. The TL:DR of it is that “sources” say Brady is calling a lot more shots and Kraft made Belichick trade Saint Jimmy, among other uncomfortable decisions made and actions taken by various parties involved, and now Belichick is generally unhappy with his situation in New England, as is Brady with Belichick.
Honestly there is probably a lot of truth in the whole thing. I’m sure Brady and Belichick butt heads. I’m sure Belichick is never truly satisfied with his position. I’m sure they’ve never been best buds. I’m sure the Coach, whether on the surface or deep down, didn’t want to trade Jimmy G, but had to, under orders or by virtue of winning football games/good football strategy. With all that said, the writer Seth Wickersham, has been churning out attack pieces on the Pats since GodKnowsWhen and definitely put as ominous of a slant on it as possible. If nothing else, the Big 3 of the Patriots are completely dedicated to winning, and to some end I’m sure all 3 know New England is the best place to do it.
It did get me thinking though. I actually kind of had an existential moment and, in a way, I suppose this is a bit of a confession. As I read sentences that openly pondered whether or not Brady or Belichick, or both, were on their way out, I actually asked myself if I would still give as much of a shit about the Patriots without them. DO NOT GET ME WRONG I did not become a Pats fan upon the team’s success or the arrival of the two aforementioned current pillars. Patriot fans around my age are always getting shit for being too young to be able to appreciate their success but they won their first title when I was about to turn 12. Over a decade without a sniff of success is a good chunk of time. I got my start pretty early in sports so I remember some putrid Bledsoe years. I remember no name running backs. I remember going to the Super Bowl in 1997 knowing we were going to get smoooooked by Brett Favre. So ya, I’ve been a fan for awhile.
This dynasty though, man. Belichick, Brady, Mr. Kraft becoming “Mr. Kraft”. This has been special. This has been a contingent of people, personalities, and philosophies all of its own, existing inside the history of a ~60 year old football franchise. And there have been other players we’ve gotten attached to that have come and gone as well. Mike Vrabel. College wrestler Stephen Neal. Ben Watson. Tully Banta-Cain. Would we have the fond memories and continued affection for those players if they didn’t come to us during these 18 years? Do I give as much of a shit about Vrabel, for instance, if he caught those 8 TDs as a goal line tight end from 5 other quarterbacks who aren’t Tom Brady while being coached by a coach who isn’t Bill Belichick? Probably not.
So let’s say Belichick thinks he has outstayed his welcome and bounces after this year. Next season we have someone else underneath the headset. Brady, Kraft’s guy, jogs out onto the field. Devin McCourty stretches on the sidelines. They score and on the ensuing kick Matt Slater pins the opposing team at their own 2. Does it feel as special? Are we still living the same dream? Do I really give as much of a fuck? Or is it The Office without Michael Scott? I’m a huge fan of those episodes. You have a dump in your pants if you say they weren’t funny. But a certain spark was missing. A special element. No one could deny that.
So I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve become the obsessive, psychotic, my-girlfriend-doesn’t-watch-football-with-me-anymore guy because of a growing love of football and the Pats or because of the characters involved. It’s almost an impossible question to answer. The chicken or the egg, the coach and QB or adolescence. I’ll watch the Pats until I die because there isn’t anything else to do on Sundays, I love football, and my happiness is in their hands whether I like it or not. But whether wins and losses, picks and touchdowns, sacks and missed opportunities keep me up at night or not without Belichick, or Brady, is a huge question. One that so far has taken 18 years and three of the best football minds to answer. I just hope they still haven’t come to their conclusion.
When the Patriots open the playoffs on January 13, it will be their fifth straight Saturday night playoff opener. Since 2001, the Patriots have always opened the playoffs at home and are 9-0 when opening the playoffs on a Saturday.
Prior to this season, the Patriots received first-round byes in 11 of their 14 playoff appearances since 2001. They have opened the playoffs at home after a bye week on a Saturday in eight out those 11 playoff runs. The Patriots won all eight of those Saturday night games. With an extra day of rest, they also went on to win the AFC Championship in six of those eight seasons. The Patriots are just 1-2 in the Brady Era AFC Championship games that came after a Sunday victory in the divisional round.
The only Saturday night playoff loss for the Patriots in the Brady Era came after the 2005 season, a divisional round game at Denver. The only one-and-dones of the Brady Era – 2009 and 2010 – came when the Patriots opened the playoffs on a Sunday.
Despite Brady’s late-season struggles, it’s hard to look at these stats and not like New England’s chances to repeat. While Minnesota in February might not sound as appealing as Miami, the forecast inside U.S. Bank Stadium for February 4 should be 72 and clear.
Wellllll this is awkward. You mean to tell us for the last 17+ years we have been mispronouncing the football savior of New England’s name? There is just so much to this to address, to dissect, to apologize for. Hard to even pick where to begin.
I guess first and foremost we have to admit this is the most egregious and disrespectful error ever right? Here this guy is delivering a downtrodden, teased fan-base a dynasty laden with 5 titles in 17 years and how is he repaid? By being refused the basic human dignity of having his Goddam name pronounced the right way. And I mean “Belichick” is by no means “Smith” but good Lord, we’ve had how long to get this right?
Next is the fact that Belichick has seen this occur; which means he is either the most graceful, gentle of leaders on that level of power or, on the other hand, possibly the most Snape-like – showing utter contempt for a group of people but never giving even a hint as to the completely intangible reason why. On the gentle side of the coin, I know of another leader with as much consolidated power as Belichick, a Dear one in fact, who if faced with such lazy nomenclature would execute every last one of us via anti-aircraft gun. Sound fun? Didn’t think so. Which makes BB that much more of a saint for putting up with our butchery. On the quietly vindictive side, this could be why he has treated any and all public inquiries directed his way as something between an annoyance and an enraging betrayal or attack on his very existence. Maybe if we just pronounced his surname right once, just once, he’d be happy as pie to tell us what is exactly wrong with Tom Brady’s achilles or why didn’t put in Brian Hoyer at the end of the Buffalo game. (Just kidding).
Last, and the most puzzling, and somewhat disconcerting, aspect of this whole revelation, is, while hearing this occur repeatedly, Belichick never really did correct us all these years. I say never really because I’m half expecting a dusty artifact of Boston sports media to excitedly prmulgate a quote they got from Belichick in the wee 00’s, correcting our pronouncing of his house name, as if they are Charlie finding the last fucking golden ticket. But it’s 2017 and no one remembers now nor cared then about your quarter-page, slow-Tuesday piece in the thicket of the Herald sports section. It stands that in the age of hyper-advanced and social media, through 2 late-stage Belichick/Brady Super Bowls and all the press conferences that came with it, the greatest football coach and football mind of all time (Shut the fuck up, fine, at least of this era) never even bothered to correct the pronunciation of his shallowly regarded last name. I guess it does makes sense, and is almost poetic in a way. His name has nothing to do with who should be the left side gunner when punting from our 41 or where Pat Chung should be lined up on 3rd and 3 just outside of our red zone with the opposing team running 22 personnel, so it really doesn’t matter. However the aforementioned disconcerting aspect is that this could be all part of a diabolical plot of Bill Belichick’s: let them shit on my family tree for 20 years and then I’ll take Tom, go back to Cleveland, and win titles year after year until he’s in his 60’s and I have an oxygen tank on the sideline.
God help us all.
PS:
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┻┳|•.•) Massholes mispronounce everything so this is kinda much ado about nothing.
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Bennett “After trying to get it fixed and getting waived, you’ve got that vengeance in your heart like, ‘All right, that’s how you’re going to do it? (Expletive) it, let’s go ball.’“ #Patriotspic.twitter.com/iUqaikNnEf
The guy does not give a fuck about anything, but he still doesn’t say anything too inflammatory. Bill Belichick has always given his veterans a bit of rope to speak their mind, as long as they’re not giving the other team bulletin board material or embarrassing the team (i.e. Welker’s Rex Ryan foot jokes).
Marty feels like he got dogged out by the Packers, in particular the team doctors and the head coach for all but accusing him of quitting on the team once Aaron Rodgers went down. Now did he lose his edge once his HOF quarterback went down and he saw his hopes of another Super Bowl burn up? Yea probably, which is why he likely decided alright well I’ll just get the surgery rather than play through pain for a team that isn’t going anywhere. Not the best attitude, but its hard to totally blame the guy.
In Bennett’s own words, he only mentioned the word “retirement” so the Packers didn’t think he was going to just take the money and run while hanging out on IR. But things got heated between the two sides, Bennett got cut, and he then apparently put out the word to not claim him because he wouldn’t play for your team….unless your Bill Belichick.
“He said he told his agent to tell teams not to claim him, since he wanted to get surgery on an injured shoulder. And even after the Patriots did, he said it took a conversation with coach Bill Belichick to convince him. “When Bill called and said they claimed me, I was like, ‘No [bleeping] way,’” Bennett said, via Phill Perry of NBC Sports Boston. “Then he was like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I told him . . . We had a quick conversation and I was just like, ‘Let me think about it and I’ll call you back.’
Hey man, can’t blame Belichick if guys wanna play here. None of my business how they leave their previous team. If a guy is available the Patriots are going to kick the tires every single time. Plus there is no better motivation than sticking it to your last team, which is what the Pats have thrived on with their player personnel for years. And to the people saying “thats not right” and its unfair.
You know whats not right? Suspending the best quarterback in the league for 4 games and docking the Patriots a first round draft pick for fucking air pressure in a ball. Yes, I did somehow bring this back to Deflategate so you’re welcome.
After this whole fiasco and returning to the Patriots to make 3 catches for 38 yards on just 7 snaps, I’ll leave you with this, the latest A+ quote from Marty.
“Like I told the guys, ‘In order for the Phoenix to be reborn, he must first turn to ashes.’ ”
I was watching the Patriots smother Brock Osweiler all night, but when I saw that blue hat FLY up into the air after this throw I had to rewind it. When I realized it was some poor shmuck getting smoked right in the head I had to watch it about 5 more times and cackle like a maniac each time. There’s really only one way to sum this up.
I am a huge Johnny Manziel guy, but even I’m starting to think this may be the end of the line after seeing these TMZ pics of him hanging in Hawaii with his GF. Not getting signed to a CFL team? Sure that one stung, but this is worse. Looking more like a 24-year-old Dad Bod than a former Heisman winner on the NFL comeback trail 24-year-old.
But if you can still pull tail like this
then his game clearly isn’t hurting. So I don’tttt think playing football matters all that much. If you’re already pulling 10’s, then maybe the constant media scrutiny and guaranteed CTE isn’t even worth it.
But, as another season passes we’re reminded that Father Time is undefeated. As is guzzling Bud heavies and sitting on the beach with your girlfriend. But hey, Eli Manning has the best Dad Bod in the NFL and that guy has two Super Bowl rings so anything is possible right?
If he can get it together though, I do know of a certain football team in need of a new young, developmental backup quarterback…
CBS Sports – “Will Ricky Jean-Francois show up to his first practice at Gillette Stadium with donuts and coffee? After all, the 30-year-old defensive lineman reportedly signed by the New England Patriots on Tuesday owns more than two dozen Dunkin’ Donuts franchises….Jean-Francois met with Dunkin’ Donuts CEO Nigel Travis before taking on his first store in Savannah, Georgia. He told FOX Sports Radio in September that he’s up to 30 stores. His goal is to operate 50 Dunkin’ Donuts before he retires, according to Packers.com.”
Here’s a guy that just gets it. These dudes are making millions of dollars to play a kids game, but most of them don’t realize they probably aren’t going to have a 15+ year career like my guy Tom Brady. You how long the average NFL careers actually is? According to the NFLPA its 3.3 years. The NFL says its closer to 6, but either way thats not very long. Most guys seem to forget that, which is why so many of them go broke and end up on 30 for 30 documentaries.
So rather than balling out and living like a maniac for 5 years, lets be pragmatic and buy up some Dunkies franchises. Diversify yo bonds. Now if Ricky takes a bad hit and his playing career is over he can always fall back on going to those annual D&D franchisee meetings in like Cedar Rapids and just run his coffee empire.
I know next to nothing about this guy, but he already seems like a smart dude and those are the types of players that always seem to thrive on Bill Belichick coached teams. Time to make the donuts indeed.
Its been too long, ESPN. I haven’t read a good Patriots hit piece in a few months. ESPN the Magazine just dropped this article today on Tom Brady and the TB12 Method. It used to be Greg Easterbrook randomly attacking the Patriots as part of his weekly 8,000 word diatribes. Then it was Mark Brunell crying on SportsCenter about DeflateGate. Well, now we’ve moved on to Tom Brady and the TB12 Method. Listen, I haven’t bought the book so take this with a grain of salt. I don’t know all the ins and outs of Brady’s program, but I do know a hit piece when I see one. So lets break it down.
“He tried his best, as he always does, but he was alone against a younger, faster opponent, and when he dove, he missed by a foot rather than by an inch and appeared simply to fall down, in pieces. Even those who root against him might then have pitied him, because it was one of those moments when the essence of sport is revealed to be cruelly and coldly biological: Tom Brady, in the course of throwing a pick-six to Robert Alford of the Falcons in the second quarter of Super Bowl LI, had grown old.”
Wait did the Patriots lose that game? Did Brady play terribly? Oh no, it was the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history in which Tom Brady won his fourth Super Bowl MVP and finished the game 43-62 with 466 yards for 2 TDs and 1 INT. Decent.
“He doesn’t just want to play until he’s 45; he has to play until he’s 45, or else he’s not Tom Brady, architect of the impossible.”
I’d say he’s doing alright thus far. While it would be a surprise for him to retire now after years of saying how he wants to play well into his 40’s, I don’t think anyone would necessarily fault him. I might weep like a small child, but certainly no one with a rational brain would put a negative spin on him retiring “early” if he did so.
“When [Tony] Robbins, smiling toothily in his headset, leads the crowd in rhythmic clapping, Brady gamely claps along. He is wearing his own headset, smiling his own toothy smile, and he appears for all the world to be an aging athlete doing what aging athletes have always done — trying to find a way off the field by turning himself into a salesman.”
Jesus christ, I mean I didn’t buy the TB12 book either, but this ESPN writer is out for blood. Maybe Brady is exaggerating? Or maybe the guy who is playing at the highest level a QB his age has ever played at is on to something? I don’t know.
“He answers questions about concussions by saying that his body is none of your business even as he begins to build a business around his body.”
First real valid point of this article. But also, if you’re Brady why would you want to open yourself up to constant questioning about your personal (alleged) concussion history when you’re still lining up every Sunday. Maybe after he retires, but doing so now would just, all together now, create a distraction.
“The TB12 Method offers a portrait of a ferociously limited human being, albeit the world’s “most hydrated” one.”
Hey fuck you buddy, being hydrated is half the battle. Plus Tom Brady is the absolute antithesis of the all-time great QBs. He wasn’t handed a starting job on a silver platter or gifted golden NFL legacy genes like Peyton Manning. He was a backup in high school on a winless team and then was behind about half a dozen other guys on the QB depth chart in college. Sure, he has world’s more athletic potential than any of us, but I don’t fault the guy for harping on the limitations he overcame to get here. Because its exactly what he did. I mean have you ever SEEN his NFL Combine pic?
“In fact, two years ago, I took a hit on my knee during a practice, requiring an MRI. The doctors who read the MRI joked afterward that my knee looked so healthy, they seriously doubted I played professional football.”
Alright thats a bit of a hokey stretch from Tom, but again the guy has already torn his ACL horribly. Legitimately required multiple surgeries to fix it after nearly ending his career so is it out of the realm of possibility that Brady’s “pliability” work has helped avoid further injuries like this? Watch him play and he really does “know how to fall.” Thats a legitimate skill. Its why only children and old people break their arms when they fall down.
“However, if Alford had caught the ball Brady threw to him instead of Edelman, or if the ball had followed its natural course and fallen to the turf instead of being held up by a thicket of arms and legs — or if Pete Carroll had just handed the ball to Marshawn Lynch in Super Bowl XLIX — we might be having an entirely different conversation about Tom Brady. He wouldn’t be an immortal, and instead of talking about the efficacy of the TB12 Method in prolonging prime performance, we’d be shaking our heads about another NFL great reduced to chasing his own ghost. Brady didn’t only get good against Seattle and Atlanta, he also got lucky.”
If David Tyree the insurance salesman doesn’t make the luckiest catch in NFL history or if Mario Manningham doesn’t make that absurd sideline catch then Tom Brady could have SEVEN Super Bowl rings right now. Or Vinatieri could miss all of those clutch field goals and Brady could have none.
“The quarterback was still trying to adjust his game after five years of postseason struggle. Smart defensive coaches had started challenging him, clogging the middle of the field in order to force him to throw outside. In 2013, Brady’s yards per attempt had fallen to 6.92, his lowest since 2006, and he completed only 17 of 68 throws beyond 20 yards.”
In case anyone forgets, 2013 wasn’t exactly the kindest year as far as Tom Brady’s offensive weapons were concerned. While this was Edelman’s breakout season with 105 catches, Rob Gronkowski got hurt and played in only 7 games, Wes Welker left for the Broncos, Danny Woodhead went to the Chargers, oh and Aaron Hernandez got arrested for murder. The Pats signed Danny Amendola, who got hurt and played in parts of only 12 games. The Pats also brought in hugely disappointing rookies in Aaron Dobson, Josh Boyce, and Kenbrell Thompkins. Just a little perspective. Moving on…
“The Chiefs drubbed the Patriots on Monday night early in the 2014 season, and Brady played so poorly — so creakily — that talk turned to whether he was, at long last, finished.
Yes the Pats had just drafted Jimmy G before the 2014 season, and yes people like Trent Dilfer danced on the Patriots’ graves.
But the team was not in this freefall that this article seems to suggest. Do we already forget what Belichick’s response was to people asking if Brady would be supplanted as the starter?
“A few days later, Belichick asked running backs coach Ivan Fears to speak to the team. Fears spoke about the importance of attitude, then turned to Brady and, with the entire team looking on, said, “Your body language reeks of fear.”
Thats the beauty of the Patriots as Tom Brady himself has said many times over the years, no one in that locker room is above criticism.
“On the night of Oct. 30, that question was answered — for now, at least — when he traded Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round pick. The trade came out of nowhere, surprising people close to Belichick, Brady and Garoppolo. But while it’s easy to see the move as a demonstration that Brady is and always will be the one exception to the Belichick Method, it instead serves as confirmation that the Method will always win. Did Belichick trade his backup out of loyalty to a 40-year-old quarterback, or because cutting bait at exactly the right time is what he always does and always will do?”
Literally NO ONE believes that Belichick traded Jimmy Garoppolo because he’s pals with Tom Brady. He did it because he saw an opportunity to get a draft pick that he valued more than he valued Jimmy G at this current time on his current contract. Thats it.
“[Brady] said, ‘I’m at the point where I want to be the best in every possible way. I came across the exercises in Popular Science, and I can already see the difference in my brain function. This kind of brain training is like physical conditioning. It can help anyone.’ “That’s just not how we thought of brain training before,” Mahncke says.”
Taking advantage of underutilized tools in unconventional ways. Very Moneyball of you, Tom.
“He has little sympathy for anyone whose experience might contradict the overarching TB12 narrative. “Players say the biggest reason [for early retirement] is their fear of the long-term effects of playing while injured. I don’t have that fear. They have no idea they can have a body or a career free of the pain that athletes of the past have endured.“
Okay, yes, if I was a fellow NFL player dealing with injuries this line would drive me up a wall.
“What would count as a failure for Tom Brady? Playing until he’s 41 instead of playing until he’s 45? Never winning another Super Bowl? Getting released at age 43 from the Patriots and spending the last days of his career hobbling around for the Browns, still angry that they took Spergon Wynn in the sixth round of the 2000 draft instead of him? Or getting all he wants — playing until he’s 45 and winning two more Super Bowls — only to discover 15 years later that he has recurring headaches and his memory is hazy and he can’t follow the route to the nearest TB12 training center?”
Pretty morbid from ya boy over at ESPN especially when all Brady is trying to do is mitigate the chances of injuries like that. Not glorifying CTE inducing hits like *your* employer ESPN used to do back in the day with the JACKED UP segment.
Then these guys completely forgo subtlety and all but blame the TB12 method for not helping prevent Julian Edelman’s torn ACL, or Dont’a Hightower’s torn pectoral muscle, or Amendola’s concussion. Listen, I’m not a disciple, but this book is not being sold to people as a way to never get injured again. Brady has said himself that its about preventative measures and recovery more than anything else.
I don’t know, if you want to read the article its pretty in depth, but I got a very haterade vibe to the whole thing; not just towards the TB12 Method, but towards Tom Brady himself. Color me shocked.
Twitter never reacts positively to ANYTHING, so this isn’t too surprising, but the wrath is real. I don’t remember this many people questioning a Belichick move in a long time. Usually most fans are like eh its Belichick he know what he’s doing, I trust him. But now? People are in open rebellion against the crown. Keep crushing that avocado ice cream Tom because whether you were serious or not, you’re gonna have to play until your 50 now.
I’m officially not going anywhere. I’m never retiring. I’ll be your quarterback long after 49ers’ Jimmy G retires. I’m yours forever now. pic.twitter.com/JpNQSawpdK
Now, if the rumors by our old friend Mary Kay Cabot from the Cleveland Plain Dealer are true then this is a disaster. Cabot had been on a goddamn crusade telling anyone and everyone that the Browns were willing to basically give away their entire 2017 Draft to the Pats to get Garoppolo, but the Pats declined. First round pick. Two first round picks. You name it, Mary Kay reported it. Now Adam Schefter staunchly denied those reports saying the Pats were NOT trading Jimmy G. As he famously, and snarkily said: “Do I sound clear on that?”
The ONLY way this trade makes any sense is if the Patriots had hoped to work out some kind of bridge deal with Jimmy G and wait another year or two behind Brady and he flat out said no. Which I can’t blame the guy for, he sees QBs in his draft class like Derek Carr and Blake Bortles making big money and says enough is enough, now is my time. No more waiting. Thats the only reason this deal makes sense. Why else would the Patriots reportedly turn down a Top 12 pick (or two Top 12 picks) from the Browns in the 2017 Draft just 6 months ago? If thats the case then Belichick took a gamble and lost. Granted it’ll be a great second round pick, probably anywhere from No. 33-35 overall. But still, seems like a pretty underwhelming return for a guy that the Pats were, reportedly, turning down multiple first round picks for and had plans for him to be the QB of the future.
Now the next question is, umm who the fuck is the backup quarterback of the New England Patriots? Belichick has now traded the No. 2 and No. 3 QBs on the roster, having sent Jacoby Brissett to the Colts as well. Not ideal for a team banking on a 40 year old QB to stay healthy. It certainly makes a lot more sense now that the Pats were working out scrub backup QBs like the Yates of Hell a few weeks ago. So who is gonna be TB12’s backup now?
“In fact, two years ago, I took a hit on my knee during a practice, requiring an MRI. The doctors who read the MRI joked afterward that my knee looked so healthy, they seriously doubted I played professional football.”
The 300s 