He’s back and he’s angry. The Days of Judgement are upon us.
CC: Roger Goodell, Troy Vincent, Bart Hubbuch, Mike Kensil, Bill Polian, Jim Irsay, John Harbaugh, Ryan Grigson, Gregg Doyel, Bob Kravitz, Troy Aikman, Don Shula, Marshall Faulk, Rob Parker, Shannon Sharpe, Chris Carter, Max Kellerman, Mark Brunell, Ron Borges, Tom Jackson…
If you pray for rain, you have to deal with the mud, too.-Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), The Equalizer
Tommy B at 4:05 Sunday afternoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs
As a matter of fact, Tom, that’s exactly why I’m going to be there.
This isn’t NFL HQ, this isn’t the courtroom, this isn’t Bristol, CT ESPN office, this is the football field. On Sunday afternoon and for the rest of this season, Tom Brady is the jury, judge, and executioner for a change. Run for the hills. Let’s get to some links…
Ian O’Connor (ESPN Senior Writer) starts us off with a very cool piece that brings back some Michigan memories/stories, and gives us Aaron Shea’s perspective on Brady’s return. Shea is TB12’s good friend (Tom baptized his kid), former college teammate, and coincidentally, a Browns fan. When asked if he believed Brady wants to “stick it” to Goodell, Shea replied:
“One hundred percent. He’ll never tell anyone that, but we’re all human. You want to stick it to someone who stuck it to you. Deflategate was a witch hunt for Goodell and all the other owners who wanted to slow the Patriots down. And now everyone in the NFL knows Tom is back and fired up. If there’s one guy in the history of sports who didn’t need to cheat, it’s Tommy Brady.”
There will always be an extra Patriots jersey for you in my household, Mr. Shea.
I would describe Mike Freeman (Bleacher Report) as typically hit or miss, but he had some great quotes in his solid “10 Point Stance” piece on Wednesday. Hint: Brady’s friend isn’t the only one who thinks the league is in trouble.
“‘Thanks to Roger Goodell,'” said the coach, “‘Tom Brady is going to kill us all.'”
“‘This Tom Brady scares the s–t out of me,'” said another defensive assistant, this one from the NFC.
These are real quotes from real professional football coaches. Don’t blame anyone but yourselves. You did this. Aside from the handful that spoke out against “Deflategate” (Aaron Rodgers, Joe Thomas, Chris Long with the Rams to name a few) everyone chose to go about their days and watch the greatest quarterback of all time’s reputation go up in flames over a fraction of a fraction of air pressure in a football…in 40 degree weather…when the Colts balls’ were also “deflated”. But I digress…
Speaking of the Colts, their GM and catalyst of Brady’s suspension, Ryan Grigson was in the news on Friday morning. Asked about the Colts’ struggles on the defensive side of the ball, Grigson opined:
“When you have to tighten up, once you pay Andrew what we did, it’s going to take some time to build on the other side of the ball.”
I don’t know Grigson particularly well, I probably would have never known him by name if not for his infatuation with PSI levels of footballs, but I do know he loves to take accountability for his actions. Sure, the Pats won by 70, but it was because of the air pressure. Sure, we’re trying to field a good roster, but we’re paying Andrew too much to. Unfortunately for Ry Guy, every team has the exact same salary cap, and we all know how important a “level playing field” is to him.
Let’s take a very brief Brady break and talk about a couple other Patriots for a second. Mike Reiss (ESPN) dropped a couple nice nuggets in his quick hit thought piece at the beginning of the week. If you’re not familiar with Reiss’ work/coverage, you should be. He’s a pro’s pro (in spite of his employer), and almost always has his finger on the pulse of the team, a tall task working with an unpredictable Belichick. Reiss on injured RB Dion Lewis.
“At this point, I’m told everything has responded well and Lewis is operating with optimism that he will be back on the field soon. Having started the season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, he isn’t eligible to begin practicing until Week 7, but his visit to the stadium Friday was part of the process of getting ready and re-integrating himself into the mix.”
Yeesh. Adding Dion to the mix? In case you forgot what he can do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcSMUokb6mQ
Tom Pelissero (USA Today Sports) touched on Rob Gronkowski’s injury and the grievances of his many fantasy football owners, who are still waiting for a return on their likely 1st round investment.
Gronkowski says the hamstring is ‘“progressing every single week, every single day, and hopefully, this week, it’s go time.”’
Also, contrary to what we may think, Gronk doesn’t care about your (or my…) fantasy teams:
‘“What do I got to say to them?”’ Gronkowski said. “’It’s real football. That’s what I’m really only worried about, is going out there and getting the W. So, we get the W and I have no catches, I’m satisfied, man.”’
Works for me.
By far, the best piece of the week was the Belichick masterpiece by ESPN’s David Fleming. Mike D shared his thoughts on that here. Fleming got the help of everyone from Bill Parcels to Aqib Talib to represent Belichick in a way we’re not used to seeing. No grunts, no scowls, just phenomenal accounts of his acumen, methods, and genius, portraying the immense amount of respect his peers have for him. Brilliant stuff, if you read just one of these, make it that one.
Respect…Respect…I’ve heard that before…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa-L0necxhA
It’s about honor. It’s about respect. They tried to take those things away from you, Tom.
Now what are you going to do about it?
Pray for Cleveland.