Tag: Tom Brady

(Retired) Rob Gronkowski Traded to Tampa Bay to Reunite With Tom Brady

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Somebody needs to do a wellness check on Julian Edelman and take away his shoelaces. But seriously, you have got to be shitting me Gronk. I’m seriously going to have to watch two of my favorite athletes of all time play together for another team this season? Holy shit did the devil collect quickly on the deal for my soul after Super Bowl No. 6.

This all came out of thin air after RapSheet tweeted Gronk was interested in coming back and was a done deal in a matter of about 30 minutes, which made it all the more jarring.

I didn’t even have time to craft a witty tweet before the next breaking news siren sounded. Now we’re just reacting to the cold hard news that is in fact a done deal.

If we’re being honest I was hoping for more than a 4th for Gronk and a 7th, but I guess objectively speaking it makes sense as he has just one year left on his deal and hasn’t played football in more than a year. When Marshawn Lynch decided he wanted to come out of retirement to play for the Raiders, the Seahawks were only able to swap a 6th for a 5th and thats probably the closest comparison.

But in the span of 32 days to lose the greatest quarterback of all time for nothing and now arguably the greatest tight end of all time for a 4th stings a bit.

Karen Guregian also reported that this wasn’t just a sudden urge from Gronk to play football again.

I can’t say that surprises me all that much since Gronk confirmed rumors of a nixed trade to the Lions before the 2018 season, saying he’d retired before playing for another QB.

After a year doing TV, selling CBD, hosting music festivals, and winning WWE belts Gronk will be back catching balls in 2020 from none other than Tompa Brady. His off the field stuff was hit or miss, but let us never forget his Hall of Fame meathead moment on New Years Eve.

Well if sports ever do come back I’ll be drunk and crying in the stands watching Tom Brady throw TDs to Rob Gronkowski in motherfucking Tampa Bay.

The New Patriots Uniforms Are Here and They Are Fine

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They’re here! The new Patriots jerseys are here! And I am…underwhelmed. In the age of sports talk radio and hot takes on twitter every day, the idea of straddling the fence has essentially become a punishable offense. You either love something and you’re swiping your credit card as we speak or it’s hot garbage and the team should just contract. Well prepare to be disappointed because that is exactly how I feel about these uniforms. They’re fine. They aren’t great, I’m definitely not buying one, but they’re not terrible. They’re just meh.

My biggest disappointment is that they aren’t even new. The Patriots announcing the Color Rush jersey becoming the primary home jersey as “new” is a stretch. They’ve been wearing these jerseys for years; that’s not new.

The white jerseys are also super OK.

But again they aren’t all that different from the team’s normal white roads, aside from those new shoulder stripes.

Seriously though, these are basically the same thing.

Come on!

I know I shouldn’t be surprised, Mike Reiss already told us the changes were going to be minor. These aren’t terrible, BUT the Patriots missed a huge opportunity and I can’t believe it. If you’re going to just repurpose old product (Color Rush jerseys) and repackage them as something brand new, at least do it right. The white on white color rush jerseys the Pats rocked in Tampa a couple years ago were CLEAN.

Yet the Patriots decided to go white on blue and just muck it all up.

So these jerseys are fine, they’re nothing great, but I think the team missed an opportunity here. It was time for a change, the Patriots were smart to go with a slightly different look in the post Tom Brady era, but unfortunately the Krafts will not be getting any of my stimulus check Trump Bucks.

The Patriots New Jerseys Are Officially Coming On Patriots Day

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I blogged about this a couple weeks back as we broke down the best jerseys in franchise history and pondered what the Patriots could potentially do with new unis. My campaign for the throwback red jerseys was pretty quickly killed by Mike Reiss who reported the jersey tweaks would be minor. However, this teaser video the Pats just tweeted out has me rethinking all that.

I know the cynics out there are bitching that so many teams are only changing their jerseys (Pats are the 4th team this offseason by my count) because Nike wants to hawk more gear, but sometimes a little change is a good thing. Especially with the end of an era and TB12 now in Tampa Bay, I am not opposed to something new. So help me God if this is a Jay Glazer-esque hype train only for it to be much ado about nothing. I’m not going to take my pants off for new piping accent colors, this isn’t Uni Watch.

The countdown is on and there really couldn’t be a more appropriate day for the Pats to make the announcement: Patriots Day. We’ll be back to break it down after the reveal and potentially blow some stimulus check funds on a fresh new jersey.

Follow the Real Estate: Dustin Pedroia Just Put His House On the Market

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Realtor.com – Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is hoping to tag a buyer for his luxury residence in Chestnut Hill, MA, an upscale enclave outside Boston.

The two-time World Champ quietly snapped up the home in 2013—the year he helped lead the Sox to a World Series victory. Pedroia’s red-brick Colonial, listed for $8.95 million, is less than a mile from the compound of departing NFL star Tom Brady, which is also still on the market, for $33.9 million.

With 8,500 square feet, the light-filled layout includes seven bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms spread across three levels.

Follow. The. Real Estate.

We literally just saw a very similar situation play out over the last year with another Boston legend. Despite denials from some local media guys that Tom Brady putting his Brookline house on the market had anything to do with him intending to leave New England; he ended up doing just that. So while it doesn’t necessarily mean anything imminent because all of these guys have multiple houses, can afford to buy a new mansion tomorrow, oh and theres no sports going on anytime soon anyways, but pay attention to this.

I don’t think anyone realistically expects Dustin Pedroia to play for the Red Sox again, but I always held out hope maybe he could get healthy enough to suit up as a part-time DH or something. Well this move makes it seem like Pedroia may be ready to call it a career and retire somewhere else. Maybe thats back in California where he grew up, out in Arizona where he dominated in college, or down south just to escape these bullshit winters. I despise Boston winters and I haven’t had multiple grueling knee surgeries so I can’t imagine Pedroia wanting to stick around post-playing career.

Lets not retire his number just yet, but I can’t imagine this is a positive development for the possibility of Pedroia playing again. Retiring as an athlete sucks, being forced into retirement early and having a potential Hall of Fame career derailed because of injuries is just cruel.

So while I think Pedroia may want to lay low for a while, I can’t imagine him not getting back into baseball in some fashion. He has always been positively obsessed with baseball, going so far as to take grounders at second from his knees while rehabbing. Someone with that type of passion and knowledge of the game could absolutely manage or work in a front office, but I think it would be a disservice to the entire country if Pedroia didn’t go into broadcasting. He was never at a loss for words, routinely talked shit to anyone and everyone (including Brady Quinn over ping pong), and was just a blast to listen to so I hope to see Dustin Pedroia in the booth one day.

The Patriots Are Updating Their Jerseys in 2020. What Do You Want to See?

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CBS – The Patriots will be making a change to their uniforms, according to The Associated Press’ Joe Reedy.

Specifically, Reedy listed four teams (one of which being the Patriots) making uniform changes, along with two teams making uniform and logo changes, plus one team making a uniform tweak. Considering the Patriots aren’t changing their logo, and considering this is not merely a “tweak,” this report would seemingly add to the belief that the Patriots are set to ditch their “Color Rush” jerseys as their third/alternate jersey.

To be honest the Patriots are probably due for a jersey update and I am an unabashed jersey guy so I love to see new looks. I mean even the Cowboys mess with their jerseys every now and then so it’s okay to switch things up. The Patriots have been wearing essentially the same thing, minus a patch here or there and minor tweaks, for the past 20 years.

Julian Edelman teased us all last week when he posted a photoshop of him in the old 90s royal blue unis, which are so choice. They are gloriously 90s in the best way. Just over the top, odd colors thrown together, and ugly but in a good way. Was he actually teasing something or just messing with us?

Mike Reiss threw some cold water on the idea of a dramatic update though, but I’m going to ignore that for the time being.

What jersey would you want the Patriots to bring back? Lets take a look at what they’ve rocked over the years.

This same image has actually been hanging in my parents’ basement for the better part of 20 years.

If the reports are true and the Patriots aren’t “changing their logo” then that means they’re not going back to the throwback red unis full-time. I *love* Pat the Patriots, but the Krafts would be stupid to change the logo of the most successful franchise in sports. This doesn’t mean we can’t get a one off though. Please?

This 1960s era throwback that they debuted in 2009 and have worn several times since has actually become an incredibly difficult jersey to find these days despite being one of the most universally beloved looks. Don’t sleep on the white throwbacks either because those were fresh too.

I’ve been hunting for a throwback red Brady jersey for a while now and it is sold out everywhere except for obnoxious XXXL sizes. HOWEVER, I went back to the Patriots online store again today and suddenly these are stocked in every size with a note about how they’ll ship out in 3-4 weeks. That is interesting timing. Hmmmmmm

With a new look coming, it would seem like the most obvious casualty is the Pats axing the dark blue Color Rush jersey aka the “Jacoby Brissett.” These have actually became their third alternate recently. The all navy look was fine, but never blew my socks off.

I would love if they made the Color Rush white on whites a full-time road uni as that is one of the cleanest looks in the league. The Patriots rocked these back in 2017 on Thursday Night Football in…yup, Tampa.

I’m probably one of the few guys in New England that actually owns the silver Patriots jersey that debuted in 2003. It was definitely wonky and only lasted a couple of seasons, but I always liked them.

I’m sure it’ll end up being new piping color or something that you probably won’t even notice, but I would love to see the Patriots try something new. We are in the post-Tom Brady era so there’s no better time to shake things up than now. Rumors were swirling last season that the Pats were considering bringing back the 90’s throwback jerseys. It never happened, but the team did start aggressively marketing those last season. Maybe a little market research before making a decision for 2020?

So, what do you want to see the Patriots rocking next season?

Is Deshaun Watson Watch Officially On for the Patriots? Because It Feels Like It Is.

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I am exhausted from years of [insert player name] Watch over the years only to watch said player never even come close to landing on my team. We just did it with Stefon Diggs for two years, people continue to do it with Odell Beckham Jr. and don’t even get me started on Danny Ainge. Pining for a superstar your team has no shot at ever landing (Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony Towns) is basically a requirement for Celtics fandom.

With that being said, are we now doing Deshaun Watson Watch for the next Patriots QB? It sure seems like it. This all started the other day when oddsmaker BetOnline.com set Deshaun Watson as the PROHIBITIVE favorite to be the Patriots starting QB in 2021. Huh? Granted this came just days after Bill O’Brien made one of the dumbest trades in league history and gave away arguably the best receiver in the league in DeAndre Hopkins for spare parts. Getting a washed up David Johnson and a 2nd round pick for an elite talent like Hopkins (not to mention one of the last lifelines for a seemingly flailing relationship with Watson) is a fireable offense in my opinion.

There were rumors floated by HOF receiver Michael Irvin that Hopkins and O’Brien had a tumultuous, shitty, bordering on disrespectful relationship, but thats no excuse to dump your second best player for a running back who hasn’t been good in THREE years. Trust me, I’ve had him in fantasy 2/3 of those seasons and got burned every time.

The Texans No. 1 goal every year should be to keep Deshaun Watson happy. No. 2 is make the playoffs. In that order. Thats how important Watson is to this franchise…sooo maybe don’t spit in the guy’s face by trading his best weapon. This would be like if the Patriots traded Julian Edelman last year. Just doesn’t make sense.

Even with all that I still find it very hard to believe an elite young QB in his prime would somehow find his way under center for the Patriots next season. It just does not happen in the NFL. Watson is entering the final year of his rookie deal with a 5th year option in 2021 so theres no huge rush for the Texans to trade him, yet. He is going to sign a contract somewhere close to $40M per year depending on what Patrick Mahomes signs for, but as Mike Reiss reports the Patriots coincidentally are set to have around $100 Million in cap space next offseason. Hmmm

Andddd now we are officially getting subtweets from Deshaun Watson!

My team suddenly doesn’t have a QB of the present or the future and now one of my favorite young players to come out of college in years is subtweeting Drake lyrics just days after his team traded his top playmaker?

I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready to handle another [insert player name] Watch, but I don’t think we have any choice. Deshaun Watson Watch is officially on.

A List of the Top Tom Brady Documentaries, Cameos, and Skits to Watch While Self Quarantining

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Tom Brady will soon be holding up the jersey of another team and I fully expect that sight to make me weep and/or vomit. So in the meantime while we’re all self quarantining anyways, lets break open the Disney Vault and go through all of the best Tom Brady documentaries, cameos, and skits from over the years.

The Brady 6
If you’ve never seen this NFL Films doc, it is pure Tom Brady porn so make sure you do it alone. It details all the bums drafted ahead of Brady and how all their careers played out. “He has four goats” is still the greatest ether these ears have ever heard.

The Great Brady Heist
A relatively recent addition to the Brady archives, I just caught this one on FOX Sports 1 last night and it was *electric.* If you’re a fan of true crime docs then this one is for you because it details how TB12 had his Super Bowl LI jersey stolen right out of his locker after completing the greatest comeback in sports history and how the authorities got it back.

Tom vs Time
This is a quick watch as most episodes are only 10-15 minutes long, but this Facebook Watch exclusive was a fascinating look behind the curtain into Tom Brady’s every day life. His family at home, his relationship with Alex Guerrero, post game phone calls with Josh McDaniels etc. It also offered a now prophetic glimpse into Brady’s future plans as the shine wore off with Belichick.

Three Games to Glory (Take your pick)
These were difficult to find on the interwebs aside from a few clips here and there as they are the DVDs produced and sold directly by the Patriots. So you may need to pony up to see them all, but it never hurts to build out the collection.

Peyton’s Places with Tom Brady
The full 30 minute episode is available only on ESPN+ so you might not be able to watch it for free, but this was a great piece of content. If you still blindly hate Peyton Manning and can’t get past that to watch these two legends chop it up, you’re missing out.

America’s Game: New England Patriots
These are the NFL Network documentaries of the Super Bowl champs they do every year. I’m sure you’ve seen some or all of these, but holy hell are there a lot of episodes on the Patriots! Take your pick: 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018. My personal favorite is the 2001 episode, solely because it features a *young* Tom Brady sharing what Drew Bledsoe told him on the sidelines during the game.

Do Your Job Bill Belichick and the 2014 New England Patriots
Another masterfully produced documentary from NFL Films, this one breaks down the 2014 Patriots season. It’s definitely more of a focus on Bill, but you get some great Tom Brady highlights in there.

A Football Life: Bill Belichick
Again this is another NFL Films doc that focuses primarily on Belichick, but you get some delicious interviews and mic’d up clips of Tom Brady. Released in 2011, you get never before seen footage, most notably after the 2009 beatdown from the Saints on MNF, Brady is shown venting to Bill how he “can’t get these guys to play the way I need them to play.” It’s actually two parts, both of which you can watch below.

Detail: Peyton Manning on Tom Brady
This is another ESPN+ exclusive and is one I haven’t checked out yet, but Detail is an excellent watch if you’re into the X’s and O’s.

Entourage – “Fore!”
One of the best cameos on a show that had multiple per episode so thats saying something. Brady dominates in all facets of life including on the links and even befriending dick head New Yorkers. Check this Season 6 episode out on HBO Go.

Ted 2
Two words. Golden. Balls.

Jimmy Kimmel Skit
Matt Damon just can’t catch a break.

Saturday Night Live
Tom Brady hosted SNL once and only once, back in 2005 and he absolutely killed. Probably because of the times we live in now and the #MeToo movement, but the laugh out loud funny Sexual Harassment PSA skit has all been scrubbed from the internet. But I still found it.

Lets Grieve Tom Brady’s Departure Together

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Tom Brady Sr. always said it was going to end badly in New England and that’s exactly what happened. It wasn’t a Drew Bledsoe-esque ending where he got hurt, benched, and traded, but it was an awkward, tense, anticlimactic close to Tom Brady’s Patriots career.

It was a less than stellar final season in NE where Brady just didn’t have the weapons, the defense slowly fell apart, leading to an upset loss on Wild Card weekend to Ryan Tannehill and the Titans, with a pick-six being Brady’s final play. Now with Brady announcing his decision to move on from New England we’re left to grieve the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

It’s yet to be announced where Brady will sign, but guys like Colin Cowherd are starting to report that he’s headed to Tampa Bay. Imagine TB12 in 70 degree weather throwing to Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, OJ Howard (and maybe Antonio Brown)? Good god. Tampa Bay also has the 16th hardest schedule in the NFL this year, compared to the No. 1 most difficult schedule facing New England.

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.

What a start to 2020 huh? A homegrown MVP in Mookie Betts gets traded, literally every sports league in America shuts down, the entire country is isolating themselves due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and now TB12 is gone.

This is going to be weird. Since 2001 the only QB to play anything more than garbage time was Matt Cassel after Brady got hurt in 2008. So who the hell is going to play QB for the Pats next season? I broke down all the potential QB options a couple weeks ago, but I still keep hearing *Andy Dalton’s* name for some reason.

Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill are both off the market. Teddy Bridgewater apparently is going to get $30M a year so I’ll pass on that. Philip Rivers is also an old so I don’t see the Pats going that way. I can’t imagine Belichick wanting to sign a guy in Jameis Winston who just threw 30 goddamn INTs. Maybe the Pats do swing a trade for Matt Stafford if the Lions draft a QB?

Or if we’re being honest with ourselves, it’s starting to look like the dawn of the Jarret Stidham era, folks.

Something that I have not been eager to explore about myself is how Tom Brady leaving will affect me as a sports fan. Brady has been under center in Foxborough since I was 12-years-old. As a 30-year-old that is aging in dog years, Brady was one of the few remaining Boston sports icon that is older than me. I’m a full blown Jersey Guy, but I do feel a little odd dishing out $100 bucks for a jersey of a guy that literally just became old enough to buy a beer. With Brady’s departure the best player in Boston is probably 21-year-old Jayson Tatum or maybe 34-year-old Patrice Bergeron or 31-year-old Brad Marchand. But with all due respect, none of those players really compare to Tom Brady.

After Mookie Betts got traded I talked with Big Z about how it didn’t really bother me all that much. Probably because we’re jaded and it’s hard to care as much as you did when you were 15. Tom Brady was the exception to that.

Now as we look to rebuild, to all my friends that are fans of the Jets, Bills, Dolphins, Giants, Colts, Steelers, Chiefs and any other fanbase crawling out of their dumpsters?

Tom Brady is Leaving the Patriots

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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.

This one hurts. It kind of feels like the Patriots dared Brady to leave and he did just that. As we saw all the potential weapons and upgrades around the league come off the market things started to look worse and worse. Austin Hooper, Deandre Hopkins, Stefon Diggs, Jimmy Graham. Meanwhile the Pats were erasing their cap space with extensions for Devin McCourty and the franchise tag on Joe Thuney so it looks like the team had no intention of bringing Brady back.

We’ll find out soon, but as of right now we don’t know where Brady is going. We can fully expect that he got PAID by LA or maybe Tampa Bay. The numbers will really decide the reaction of Patriots fans towards Belichick and Kraft because if it’s $30 million a year for 3 years then I think people will understand. If it’s even a moderately reasonable deal and the Pats lowballed him yet again then Belichick and Kraft will get roasted for years to come.

The LA Chargers make the most sense in my opinion as Brady wants to grow his brand, he pals around with Hollywood elite already, his wife would love the glitz and glamor, oh and don’t forget the production company he started last week.

Tampa probably backed up the Brinks truck and that team has a *nice* set of offensive weapons, but I just find it hard to believe Brady and Giselle are going to move to the strip club capital of the world.

We’ll have more blogs today as we grieve, but for right now I’m still in a state of shock.

Tom Brady Just Partnered With the Directors of THE AVENGERS to Launch a New Production Company

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For proper experience, press play on the music below and then read on.

Tom Brady’s first venture into the original content world, Tom vs Time, was excellent as it was an insightful, behind the scenes look at one of the greatest athletes of all time. Hell, even Jets fans enjoyed that mini series. My only complaint was how short the entire thing was. Six episodes that were each about 10 minutes long. By the end of it I was like a junkie looking for his next fix. Well, it seems we only need to chase the dragon for a bit longer as Tom Brady is partnering with the Russo Brothers, the directors of THE AVENGERS, to launch his new company, 199 Productions. You can imagine the excitement from the guys who spent weeks of their lives re-watching and reviewing the entire MCU catalogue last year.

Tom Brady + the architects of the MCU creating new original content together might literally tear a hole in the space time continuum with how good that sounds. With $22 Billion in gross box office sales over the last 13 years, the Russo’s know what their doing in terms of storytelling. The only thing missing from this partnership is Kevin Feige, but I won’t get greedy here. I would watch just about anything 199 Productions puts out there with the Russo Brothers.

I was hoping for a Tom vs Time season 2 at some point, but this seems like it will slide into that slot. Tom Brady’s *other* media production company Religion of Sports, which he co-founded with Gotham Chopra and Michael Strahan, has created a bunch of content, but most of it has been focused on random subjects like Steph Curry or soccer in developing countries. I need more Brady TV if we’re being honest.

Now is it mildly concerning that Tom Brady announced the creation of a new production company just days before his free agency begins? No…not at all.