5 Takeaways from ESPN’s Brady-Belichick-Kraft Article

Last night, Bruce Allen dropped the news that ESPN was about to run a “hit” piece on the Patriots this morning that dove into growing tension between Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft. Of course Patriots fans went ballistic at the mere mention of this and the internet was ablaze with takes before anyone had even read what was actually written.

Well the article came out this morning and honestly I found it pretty tame and mostly just expounding on what had already been reported locally.

It did contain plenty of interesting details but, after 18 years of the central figures working together, there’s nothing that is all that hard to believe. There are certainly details that left me scratching my head a bit, things that were left out or muddier than I think they needed to be, but overall, I found it more interesting that outrageous, and a reminder of all the moving parts involved with managing a football team, much moreso one that has had such unprecedented success.

Here are the five takeaways that I found most interesting, and what this all means as we enter the playoff bye week.

1. Alex Guerrero is Yoko Ono — Guerrero is once again laid out as the main antagonist around the Patriots, which is of course what we’ve been hearing all year. Patriots players felt torn between Guerrero and the Patriots training staff, but also between Brady and Belichick as players seeking their approval felt torn between Brady’s method and the Patriots own training staff. Brady’s devotion to Guerrero is described in detail and that Brady has “trouble saying no” to him. There was also mention that Brady and Guerrero were less than helpful to Jimmy Garoppolo, and that the TB12 Center was locked on Garoppolo after he separated his shoulder. Maybe Brady never went above and beyond to mentor Jimmy, but I think he’s painted a little unfairly for not going the extra distance. The locked out of TB12 thing seems trite and I’d be curious what Jimmy has to say about that.
2. Kraft Forced Jimmy G Trade — This is a big part of the story that will be the most hotly debated was that after a long, extended meeting Kraft ordered Belichick to trade Jimmy and draft/develop a new QB this offseason. Belichick was “furious and demoralized”. The Patriots tried to extend Garoppolo with a contract that would increase in value if/when he became the starter. But everyone acknowledges how many moving parts there were and how difficult it would be to manage the two. So Belichick made a call to the 49ers, interestingly to Kyle Shanahan and not John Lynch, and got the ball rolling. This seems to go against what Kraft learned by meddling with Bill Parcells’ team building and Kraft has said multiple times he stays out of the football stuff now, so I still wonder what the true content of this conversation was. Only Belichick and Kraft know, and Belichick’s statement after trading Jimmy acknowledged many truths and never felt like he was being forced into a decision he disagreed with. Regardless if it was Kraft’s orders or a joint decision, there was absolutely no easy way to keep Garoppolo and Brady unless Garoppolo took a sweetheart deal. This is an undeniable fact at the center of this whole thing which gives me pause.
3. Brady is Tired of Belichick — Probably not all that shocking that after 18 years of taking shit from Belichick that Brady has grown a little tired of it and is now at the point where he’d like the coach to pull back on him a bit. Brady always talks about being a positive person, almost to a fault, so I don’t find it hard to believe Belichick could wear on him. Still, I’d bet Brady would take this kind of coaching and winning no matter how many times Belichick calls him out, even unfairly. I’d file this under things everyone can get beyond to win another Super Bowl.
4. Belichick Comes off Great — If there was a sympathetic protagonist in this story it’s Belichick, which was kind of shocking. Last night I never thought I’d come away from a “hit piece” feeling like Coach Bill was put in such a difficult position. Wickersham paints him as just wanting to leave a solid team with their next QB in place along with laying the foundation for his son’s coaching careers. Most shocking? That Belichick had made amends with Roger Goodell after a long private meeting this season. Belichick has done a legendary job managing this football team for so long, and the final chapters are seemingly the most difficult. He seems stuck in a no-win situation but has been a good foot soldier about it all, doing the best he can but of course in the only style he knows, which has been incredibly successful.
5. Brady is slipping — The decline in Brady’s game is in the crosshairs here, specifically pointing out the play that got Chris Hogan injured as an example of Brady missing open reads and getting rid of the ball too quickly. The quote from a staffer was “As fragility has increased, nervousness has also increased.” This part felt a little nebulous to me. It say he’s “missed a lot of practices” and curiously leaves out the fact that he lost his most trusted receiver in August. Maybe there has been some slippage in his game, but it’s been barely perceptible through some challenging circumstances. Because if Brady has a couple more elite years in him, all of the drama contained here can be solved.

So what does it all mean? Again, this is nothing as silly as warm gatorades from Wickersham’s previous piece in 2015 that seemed to publish any and every rumor of a Patriots cheating method ever mentioned. The big pieces of this had already been talked about all season long, so I don’t find the general takeaway of it all that hard to believe.

It did make me feel a bit sad for both Brady and Belichick. Brady was described as basically being stuck between wanting to prove Guerrero’s methods work and the reality of his body starting to break down. Again, I don’t know how much of that is just the lack of Edelman and the usual wear and tear that we see almost every year on Brady. And Belichick is stuck having to deal with Guerrero dividing the locker room and a quarterback who is incredibly loyal to the trainner.

Again, the TB12 Center IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE STADIUM. The solution to keep Guerrero there should be a simple one that everyone can accept.

Ultimately I think Kraft will broker a solution and keep things on track for at least one more year. The article says that the air still needs to be cleared, but if there’s one thing I know about Belichick and Brady, winning in the playoffs is a magical elixir. Of course this does put some interesting angles on the playoff games, and if the Pats flame out early, especially under lackluster circumstances, the essence of this article will surely be pointed at as a factor.

Perhaps this article and the questions that will come from it can help serve as an impetus to move on from this episode. For that reason, instead of complaining about a “hit piece” we can take something positive from it, something that helps extend this dynastic run just a little longer.

Keep Guerrero at TB12. Invest in a QB in the draft. Judge Brady by how he looks with Edelman back by his side. Everything can be okay for 2018 if all the players involved want it to be.