Although there isn’t much chance I bang my way through this without an ounce of bias, I am going to try my hardest to stick to the facts and be fair. I think I can do a pretty good job of that.
So here they are, the facts as they exist today
-Tom Brady played in the NFL for 22 seasons -His first 20 were played in New England -His last two were played in Tampa Bay -He had kind words about New England when he left for his final two seasons (9% of his career) -He had some nice words when he played New England this year -He retired officially today -In his 900+ word retirement speech, which lasted multiple scrolls of an IG post, he never once mentioned New England, the Patriots franchise, or the fans -He thanked the Glazers (owner of the Bucs), coach Bruce Arians, Tampa, the Tamps fanbase profusely
Do you kind of see where I am going with this?
Tom Brady fans have defended him going to Tampa Bay since the moment it became official. I kind of found it odd. But I find a lot things a lot of humans do odd so I sort of ignored it, minus the occasional acidy remark when I got fed up with people talking about him like he still played here. It was just an odd time in Boston sports. Bruins, Celts, Sox, Pats, Tom Brady, for some. There were others like me too. He chose to leave and he was no longer on our team. Best of luck, but that’s it. Relationships of all kinds end. It’s just best to move on.
So I’ll admit I feel a bit vindicated now. Sad too. We did win six super bowls with the guy. People cherished Tom Brady. He was a beacon of hope in their dark worlds. And I get it man, I do. But he left. He didn’t care to stick around. He went to another city for two of the 22 years he has been in the league and the 44+ years he’s been on earth and the only people he thanked on the way out were the people who cheered him on in between dips in his pool at the AirBnb he rented for a couple of years.
He didn’t care about the people of New England. He didn’t mention us. He didn’t mention you. He didn’t mention Kraft. Regardless of his feelings for Belichick, Kraft and Brady always felt like family. They were, we thought, eternally linked. Kraft bringing this shitty franchise back from the brink with Brady at the front of the cavalry. And ya, he didn’t, as expected, thank Bill Belichick. That ended poorly. But Belichick gave him his shot all those years ago. Bledsoe was good to start the super bowl. An all-everything QB and Belichick went with the kid. What if he hadn’t? Who cares I guess. Thank you Bruce Arians.
Look, he has every right to write whatever thank you note he wants on his way out. I’m not criticizing that. I’m not criticizing him, actually. I’m criticizing everyone who called themselves a “Patriots fan” but still worshipped at the temple of Brady. Who thought they were anything other than someone who was cheering on their ex as they walked up the aisle with someone else. It was cringe-worthingly sad to begin with. Now that we know they had been cheating on you the whole time, that can’t feel good, and it makes it even more awkward.
With any luck though this is it. He’s gone. He’s retired. Hopefully locally at least that’s the last we hear of it. We have a new QB who I heard is pretty good. He led us to the playoffs and made the pro bowl. Maybe say a couple Hail Marys as penance and then come back to your team.
Update: Tom Brady has officially announced he is retiring from football.
Tom Brady is officially probably retiring from the NFL after 22 seasons, seven Super Bowl titles, three MVPs, and five Super Bowl MVPs. He is without a shred of doubt the greatest quarterback in NFL history, likely the greatest player in league history, and arguably the greatest athlete in American sports history. As we process the end of an era, only the most somber of songs will suffice. Hit it, acoustic Josie.
That is if you believe the likes of Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington, two of the most tied-in guys in all of sports media. What started as rumors of Brady making a decision on his future sooner than later quickly turned into the breaking news alarm being sounded on Saturday afternoon. It was clearly not something ESPN was prepared for at that exact moment because they had wall to wall college basketball games airing and the regional sports networks like NESN and NBC Sports Boston are usually just airing infomercials when there’s not a game on. So kudos to the radio guys for doing the news justice all day while the snow piled up. But then there were conflicting reports that started coming in quoting sources like Brady’s agent Don Yee and even his own father saying he had not made a decision yet on his future. Mike Silver even reported that Tom Brady actually called Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht to tell him he had not made a decision yet. Welp, ESPN, the NFL Network, all of the internet, even TB12’s own Twitter account tweeted out notes of congratulations on a great career. Sports Center seemed to have taken Schefty at his reporting because they ran non-stop coverage and heart wrenching Tom Brady retirement packages. As they should because whether it was Giselle, Alex Guerrero or someone else that leaked the decision; I would bet my car that Brady is retiring. He’s just pissed he got scooped before he could announce it himself in his own way. (i.e. the mysteriously yet to be aired final episode of his ESPN+ show)
With all that being said, I am going to move forward with this blog assuming Brady is in fact retiring. I really hope this isn’t a Brett Favre situation and he hems and haws. Make a decision and stick with it. I personally don’t think he should walk away because he clearly is still one of the best QBs in the league, but hey if he is calling it a career I get it. He’s won seven Super Bowls, he has every significant NFL record for a QB, he’s got multiple budding businesses to tend to now, and most importantly he has his health. If this it for Tom Brady, what an incredible career it has been. Equally as impressive is the fact that he will be retiring at the height of his powers as he finishes his final season as a legit MVP candidate
So he calls it a career, rather than wait to get hurt or face an inevitable possible decline in skills, even as Brady once famously said “I’ll retire when I suck.” Suck, Tom Brady does not. There aren’t many guys that are able to walk away at the top of their game though. The only recent comp I can think of is David Ortiz, who retired after a 2016 All-Star season in which he hit .315 with 38 home runs and 127 RBIs. Absolutely mind boggling. As badly as Tom Brady wants to play until he’s in his fifties, there is something to be said about walking away before the wheels come off. Nobody wants to remember their idols stumbling around the field, clearly diminished and just chasing former greatness.
Speaking of David Ortiz, the fact that he gets elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame the same week that Tom Brady announces his retirement has me feeling straight up geriatric. My childhood idols now have their numbers retired, streets named after them, HOF inductions, and before long will have statues in their honor. We have truly lived through the greatest era in Boston sports history and to quote Henry Hill “and now it’s all over.”
Didn’t matter. It didn’t mean anything. When I was down, I’d go out and win some more. We won everything. We beat other teams, we battled the league, we even came back from 28-3. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking. And now it’s all over.
Sure Mac Jones looked pretty good, he helped bring the Patriots back to the playoffs as a rookie, and is technically a Pro Bowl level QB now as an alternate replacement. But it’ll never be the same, and I can already feel my future children rolling their eyes as I tell yet another story championing Tom Brady’s greatness.
In his final season, Tom Brady led the NFL in Passing Touchdowns, Yards, Completions, and Pass Attempts, all at the age of 44 and the oldest player in the league. That is otherworldly in a career of god level accomplishments. I’m not sure if this StatMuse graphic is completely up to date, but it paints the picture of just how utterly dominant Brady has been in his 40s compared to every other QB in league history. Sure he has way more games played, but that’s not a knock, in fact that’s a testament to his…pliability (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
If this is in fact it, I have to give Brady props for not doing the whole gross Mariano Rivera Retirement Tour. Rivera was the greatest closer in baseball history and was a joy/terror to watch for all those years. But announcing you’re going to retire after one more season just opens the gates for distractions and gifts and media fawning every single week and it sounds exhausting if not outright off putting. Assuming the retirement takes, like a successful transplant operation, he will retire after his age-44 season, which is actually one season shy of the 45-years-old end date he had not so subtly hinted at for years. I’ve personally always thought the “45-years-old” timeline was thrown out there by Brady to throw us off the scent so he could play into his 40’s and then retire at some point before the media started asking him every single offseason about his plans. However, as he continued to play I was less sure of that because let’s face it, if he remained healthy Tom Brady could have played until he was registering for his AARP membership. I can even picture the Instagram promo video for TB12 introducing its most famous Medicare client.
Now in the interest of continuing to process my Tom Brady Leaving the Patriots grief, I’m only briefly going to go back to the Bargaining stage here for a second. Simply put, only playing two seasons in Tampa Bay makes his late career departure hurt a little bit less. A lot of Patriots fans will never forgive Brady for leaving, but I think the majority of fans recognized Brady was essentially forced out of town by Belichick and/or after 20 years it may have just been time to move on. So with that being said, I know a lot of Pats fans were rooting for Brady to play well and even win another ring down in Florida if not to stick it to Belichick, at least to incentivize the Patriots to get their shit together, and fast.
However, if Brady had continued to win in Tampa Bay for several years, it suddenly becomes a very real possibility that the lines of allegiance start to blur. Just think about it, do you look back at Peyton Manning as a Colt or a Bronco? It’s not as clear cut as you might think because although Manning had the bulk of his record breaking HOF career in Indy, he had an ugly breakup with the team that drafted him, then went on to set single season TD records in Denver, continued to have legendary battles against Tom Brady and the Pats, went to two Super Bowls, and won another ring with the Broncos. I think that was starting to become an unspoken fear of Patriots fans who don’t even want to entertain the discussion of who claims Tom Brady as their own.
Getting back on track with my stages of processing the post-Brady grief, I think the Week 4 game this season in Foxborough provided a lot of closure for fans who felt blindsided by his departure nearly two years prior. Not to mention an all-time promo from the Sunday Night Football team.
Speaking of closure, goddamnit am I glad I dragged my lazy ass off the couch in Boston and drove the five hours down to the Meadowlands just to see Tom Brady play in person (and witness him rip out the heart of the Jets) one last time. We even joked in the pre-game tailgate that we’d probably be back in the same parking lot four years from now seeing Tom light up another generation of Jets players, but in the back of our minds we knew this could be it. And it was.
We’ll continue to work through this news and process Tom Brady’s retirement when he finally makes it official. Or if he pulls a Wolf of Wall Street and declares he’s not leaving, we’ll cover that too. If this is it though, I can promise you one thing: Five years from now I will without a doubt be in Canton, OH to witness Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame induction speech. And I’m not a meterologist, but I already know it will be incredibly dusty that day.
Most of the goodwill Bill Belichick earned by bringing the Patriots back to the playoffs with a rookie QB evaporated last night after getting throttled by the Bills 47-17. The Pats were the gang that couldn’t shoot straight in a 30 point blowout with the Bills becoming the first team EVER in the Super Bowl era to score touchdowns on their first 5 drives of a playoff game. It also marked the second worst playoff loss in franchise history, second only to the 36 point drubbing at the hands of the ‘85 Bears in Super Bowl XX. At least that beatdown was to an all-time team though.
Not like this is anything new, but goddamnit did that game make me miss Tom Brady. Obviously no longer having the greatest player of all time hurts our chances, but you never felt out of a playoff game with TB12 (insert 28-3 joke here).
It was a disaster of a night that just snowballed with bad penalties, dropped passes, a defense that couldn’t stop Josh Allen through the air or on the ground, and routinely failed to set the edge. Any spark the Patriots had seemed to be snuffed out on Mac Jones’ endzone INT, which took an incredible effort from Micah Hyde to even make.
So where do we go from here? I’ll let the true football guys break down the All-22, but what seemed like a quote unquote successful year 24 hours ago now limps into the long, cold offseason after getting completely embarrassed on national TV. The Pats will get better, Mac Jones will get better, but last night showed that they’re a lot further away than we all wanted to admit from returning to true title contender status.
I was texting with a few buddies during the Patriots game and despite the backbreaking Damien Harris fumble and absolutely brutal way to lose a game, the most common exchange was “Cam Newton is never completing that pass.” And that’s not meant to dump on Cam Newton, who was by all reports a great teammate and team ambassador despite his middling performance on the field. But man what a difference it makes having a young, competent, and promising QB like Mac Jones on the field operating the offense like a vet.
Mac Jones wasn’t lighting it up and throwing for 400+ yards like Dak Prescott or throwing 5 touchdowns like Jameis Winston, but man he looked good. He looked smooth, he was never rattled (aside from that near fumble/lateral play) and he generally moved the offense down the field with precision. His passes were accurate and he frequently put the ball in places where only his receiver could get it.
These are the types of plays that get you really excited about Mac Jones. Has the protection set perfectly against this slot blitz (OL slide right + White picking up blitzer), looks off safety to his right with eyes/pump fake, darts it to Agholor to split two-high. #Patriotspic.twitter.com/gbOltXL1tr
So while it was a heartbreaking way to lose and one that could seriously come back to bite the Patriots in the ass with it being a divisional game, I still came away from this feeling pretty good about where the Patriots are headed for the first time in a long time. Although I imagine Bill Belichick will be taking more of a Winston Wolf approach when it comes to doling out compliments in team meetings this week…
But if you’re a Patriots fan you have to be encouraged by what you saw on Sunday. For the first time in 2 years the Patriots were able to run an NFL offense. Granted, their $80 million tight ends weren’t exactly balling out, but the Pats are already nearly halfway to their total receptions by tight ends all of last season (18 catches) after ONE game (8 catches) this season. Mac did not play favorites, moved the ball around and hit 8 different receivers to keep the chains moving. The Pats definitely eased Mac Jones into the game with plenty of runs in the first half, but by the 4th quarter he looked completely comfortable and best of all he was MONEY against pressure.
Mac Jones was 14-of-18 for 124 yards against the blitz (sacked once) and 7-of-10 for 71 yards and a TD against pressure. #Patriots
We don’t want to crown the kid as the savior after one game because there will be struggles as there are with any rookie, but the fact that the Patriots threw the ball 40 times Sunday just a few months removed from Mac’s last game at Alabama shows you just confident they are in the kid.
And while I think I speak for us all when I say we were a little concerned with his swag level after that awkward walk on draft night:
But in his first career start what song does he come out to? Mike Jones! (Who?) Not exactly Tom Brady and Hova, but going with a Houston rapper who was popping when Mac Jones was all of 7 years old is grade A, top level SWAG.
So while it’s unfortunate to be 0-1 and not take advantage of the Bills and Jets losing, after watching the way Mac Jones played in his first career game it’s hard not to have a feeling that eluded Patriots fans all of last year: hope.
ESPN – The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to sign Tebow, 33, to a one-year contract later this week or next week to play tight end, a position he never played in high school, college or his previous three-year NFL career, a source confirmed to ESPN. A deal has not been agreed upon at this time. Once he signs, he will be reunited with Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, who coached Tebow at Florida and won a pair of national championships with the Gators.
Tim Tebow is approaching Cosmo Kramer levels of winning at life with this latest endeavor. Tebow has lived a life of unimaginable success in all facets of life, the ultimate jack of all trades master of none.
He was a five star QB recruit coming out of high school, won two national championships and a Heisman trophy at Florida, was a 1st round draft pick in the NFL, won a playoff game, moved on to broadcasting where he became a consistent face on ESPN covering college football, then tried his hand at professional baseball and made it to Triple-A, then married a legitimate Miss Universe, and now he will join the Jaguars 5+ years after the last time he strapped on a helmet, oh and he’ll be doing it as a tight end.
Truly a fantasy camp of a life.
Despite all that I love Tim Tebow, but I can understand anyone who might gag at the Captain America resume and truly absurd life this guy has lived. With that being said Tebow switching to tight end is something he should have done nearly a decade ago when the Patriots cut him after the pre-season in 2013. I admire a guy sticking to his guns and saying fuck that I’m a quarterback, but at some point we all have to realize our strengths and acknowledge our weaknesses and play the hand we’re dealt. Tebow looks to be in pretty good shape, but pretty good shape is not exactly NFL tight end shape and he’ll be 34 before the season starts, which is ancient in the NFL. So we might see some flashes but ultimately wonder bitterly what could have been if Tebow had been less stubborn back in the day. Maybe he could have been a reliable weapon for Tom Brady and the Patriots behind Gronk in two tight end sets. Who knows?
Either way it’s a smart move by the Jaguars though because they aren’t signing Tebow to be a backup tight end (they have 5 TE’s on the roster already), no they’re signing him to be a player-coach and to help install Urban Meyer’s team culture for his former University of Florida coach. Meyer is taking a huge gamble (mitigated mightily by having a once in a generation QB prospect in Trevor Lawrence) by jumping from the comfy confines of his college football success to the NFL. Just ask Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college coach of all time, how the NFL worked out for him. So Meyer is looking around for any advantage he can find and familiarity is one of the biggest advantages there is. If his former protege in Tebow can act as another coach on the field and help get other players to buy into Meyer’s system, then it’s absolutely worth the roster spot.
Plus as a guy who has dealt with an absolutely absurd level of attention and scrutiny in his career (hell, people went to Double-A baseball games just to watch him strike out), Tebow can help take some of the spotlight off of and help mentor Trevor Lawrence. Not to mention Tebow is originally from Jacksonville where he is a living legend so with that and Meyer in charge, it’s the perfect situation for him. If Tebow is effective in his role it would not surprise me at all to see him transition into a full-time coaching role as early as next season since this is only a one year deal.
But as a guy who purchased a Tim Tebow No. 5 Patriots t-shirt at the Allston Star Market in 2013, I’m just excited to see my guy back in the league.
I can’t believe it’s already/only been a year since Tom Brady officially announced he was leaving the Patriots after 20 seasons. Less than a week later Boston Mayor Marty Walsh officially shut down the entire city and so began the worst year of all of our lives. Coincidence? I think not. Since then so much has happened including the absolutely apocalyptic global pandemic, every professional sports league pausing and resuming games, we had perhaps the most virulent Presidential election of our lifetime, rioters stormed the Capitol, Zoom became more common than brushing your teeth, everybody is going on their 2nd straight birthday in quarantine, oh and Tom Brady won yet another Super Bowl except this time for a different team. That all happened in just the last 365 days.
I actually just finished the excellent Patriots book by Jeff Benedict, The Dynasty, and while it definitely does have a friendly slant towards the Kraft family, it still may just be the most complete historical retelling of the entire Tom Brady/Bill Belichick/Robert Kraft era in New England. Benedict’s book does a superb job navigating through all of the drama, hearsay, history, the highs and the lows of the past 20 years and it really is nothing short of amazing the levels of success this franchise reached.
“The New England Patriots of the Tom Brady era are in the pantheon of greatest sports dynasties. No team in the twenty-first century formed a deeper emotional connection with its fans–or aroused more passionate disdain from opposing fans–than the Patriots under Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. Together they created a golden era of football that started in the year of the 9/11 terror attacks and continued for two decades. If the Patriots’ dynasty had behaved like its football predecessors in Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, the run in Foxborough would have ended much sooner, perhaps as early as 2010 or 2011. But Kraft’s biggest achievement as an owner was keeping Belichick and Brady together for so long. They needed each other to reach heights that had previously seemed unimaginable.”
I can’t believe the day has finally come. Tom Brady is leaving the New England Patriots. Despite days, months, and even years of preparing for this it still doesn’t feel real. I feel like Cameron in Ferris Bueller’s day off right now: catatonic.
We all knew this day was coming, but it still sucks to see the end of an era. I don’t fault Brady, especially if he did get a massive payday somewhere else and the Pats offered him peanuts. Can’t blame the guy for wanting to make market value after taking discounts his entire career. Especially if the Patriots and Belichick wanted him to sing for his supper just to lowball him again.
Then? Then Brady immediately proved Belichick and any remaining doubters wrong as he won his 7th Super Bowl only this time with an entirely new team. It only made it crystal clear that if the Patriots had put a better supporting cast around Brady that he could still be an elite, championship winning quarterback. So yes, I still have a lot of hard feelings about how it all ended, but everything ultimately runs its course and that’s what inevitably happened here. If you are one of the few fans out there who blames Brady for leaving then I highly recommend you read The Dynasty because that guy gave everything he had, which led to a legitimately heartbreaking final meeting with Robert Kraft.
Tom Brady may be living it up down in Tampa Bay, but now and forever, that’s my quarterback.
I love Colin Cowherd, he’s one of the best in the business at what he does, but this guy on Twitter predicting Colin’s response to a wacky Baker Mayfield story is hilarious, yet telling. Maybe it’s time to punch up the script a little bit. Anyways Baker Mayfield claims to have seen a UFO the other night. Maybe he did, maybe he was high as a kite, I don’t know. But this fake Colin Cowherd quote in response to the UFO story made me laugh out loud.
“I just don’t like my franchise quarterback having alien encounters in the offseason. You know where you don’t have UFO sightings? The film room. Why do you think you don’t hear Tom Brady going X-Files? He’s watching tape. I mean, cmon Baker.” pic.twitter.com/aDQtivROyM
Now here’s what Cowherd actually said just a few hours later…
So, Baker Mayfield saw a UFO…
"Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw & Tom Brady have never seen aliens. I would prefer my guys don't talk about it." —@ColinCowherdpic.twitter.com/B31yHxJvxP
It’s the backwards hat debate on steroids. Cowherd railed against Tony Romo for years and said he would never win a Super Bowl because he wore his hat backwards. That’t it. That was the pillar of the argument. CEOs don’t wear backwards hats vis a vis Tony Romo was a bum according to Colin. Anddd that’s where I get off.
At least Tom Brady was there to provide a little levity like a social media marketing snake in the grass just waiting for the perfect moment to strike and grab some retweets.
How is one of the most successful franchises in NFL history that has a gigantic, gaping hole at the quarterback position not even mentioned as a possible landing spot for an elite QB that is suddenly and unexpectedly on the trade block? Whether it was Deshaun Watson, Matthew Stafford, Carson Wentz, and now Russell Wilson the Patriots don’t seem to be in on any of them. Regardless of what you think of each and everyone of those guys, all of them have played at an MVP level yet the Pats have no interest. I know in New England we have somehow fetishized “value” and take pride in our team not overpaying for anything. Well, sometimes you need to overpay a little bit or you get stuck driving a ’95 Civic with cigarette holes in the armrests because you don’t wanna pay for a premium for a gently used 2018 SUV with leather seats.
This team has a lot of holes so understandably Bill Belichick isn’t doing cartwheels when thinking about having to trade 2-4 first rounders for a quarterback. Yes, Russell Wilson will turn 33 next season so thats a consideration as well. But the larger point to be made is there have been some solid to excellent QBs on the market this offseason and there hasn’t been a single peep about the Pats. Are they really that against overpaying to solidify the most important position in sports? Well…probably yes, considering they let Tom Brady walk out the door rather than give the man an extension and some roster input. And Tom Brady these other guys are not.
But maybe it’s something worse…has the allure of the Patriots gone out the door with TB12?
It was widely reported that Stafford specifically said he would not play in New England and we all called him a puss for it. But Adam Schefter also reported that “the Cowboys, Saints, Raiders, and Bears are the only teams Wilson would consider.” So if the Pats don’t want to dump a handful of first rounders into one position I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand. However, if it’s more of players simply not wanting to come here then that’s a much larger issue.
Above all else, I just would like to see some semblance of a plan from Belichick. Whether that’s going out and bringing back the prodigal son in Jimmy G, trading up in the draft to get a guy like Trey Lance, or bringing on a bridge QB like Marcus Mariota and then drafting another QB late. Something tangible to build towards. But bringing back Cam Newton on a veteran minimum contract after he threw 8 touchdowns last year is not a plan. That’s just allowing your environment to dictate your actions. It’s time to make a move.
Tom Brady getting day drunk on the river, tossing the Lombardi Trophy from boat to boat is giving me all sorts of FOMO while I sit at my desk with a space heater freezing my ass off wishing the Patriots could find players like that. Either way, the must have t-shirt of 2021 has arrived. Buy Now!
Tom Brady is HAMMERED and I love it. Throw in some of those forbidden nightshades and this man seems prepared to go on a Mike Napoli-esque bender.
As an adult with a fully functioning brain I am here to tell you the only thing better than day drinking is day drinking on a boat floating down the river. I’ve done the whole pontoon thing a couple of times in Chicago, which is the poor person equivalent of a Super Bowl boat parade, but it is the only way to drink in the summer. Not to mention Tom rolled up in his own $2 million dollar boat like an absolute legend.
I have to admit, I’ve been to a bunch of championship parades, albeit normally while freezing my ass off, so I’m not gonna complain, BUT this 80 degree boat parade seems like the way to do it.
Brady deserves to really let loose like this. His mentor/boss/coach for the last 20 years essentially forced him out of town because he thought he was done. So Brady goes down to Florida, becomes the de facto player-coach, makes the playoffs, goes through Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Patrick Mahomes, wins the Super Bowl, and yet another SB MVP. As I said the other day, I don’t think it’s humanly possible to feel more vindicated than Tom Brady feels right now. So enjoy this parade my man, you just dragged the corpse of a loser franchise to the pinnacle of football and somehow reached yet another level of personal legacy. The GOAT, indeed.
The most impressive pitch and catch of @TomBrady‘s career 🤯🏆
The 300s 