Last week the Patriots were on the defensive in the media all week as the Seth Wickersham not-really-a-bombshell article dominated airwaves and press conferences. This week, things have been a little different, albeit from not ideal circumstances, an injury to Tom Brady’s hand.
The hand story was even strong enough to make an impact on NFL lines but there was no mistake that the Patriots were driving the Brady story, not being dragged along by it. The team went out of their way to make sure everyone was aware of the injury, from announcing Brady would not speak to the media and would be on the injury report, to having Brady wear his gloves and coyly avoid questions when he did finally speak on Friday. Heck they even had Hoyer in two gloves on Friday during practice after he was only wearing one on Thursday.
Behind the scenes things seemed even more haphazard. I’m not a big “sources” guy and I don’t really care to try and break stories, but there are people who occasionally send me inside info. Sometimes it’s been right, sometimes it’s been wrong, and that’s why I always just sit on it and see what happens. This week was no exception, but the info ran the gamut from Brian Hoyer is going to play to it’s no big deal.
At this point I think the “no big deal” is the truth for more reasons than just Kirk Minihane and Michael Felger suddenly entering a world of non-bullshit-speculation to reassure everyone it was just a few stitches and Brady would be fine. The Patriots seemed to squeeze every last ounce of juice from the story they could get, and even Brady had that subtle smile at his presser that just made me think this was being blown up to control the narrative.
It doesn’t take much creativity to realize how effective it would be. After 10 days of refusing to die, the ESPN article was buried by Brady’s finger this week. Even the Jags being inferior was knocked down a peg. No, it was all about Brady and whether or not a surgically re-attached cadaver thumb could work against one of the top defenses in the league.
You know the Jaguars had to be paying attention both in their preparation (Hoyer scouting) and perhaps a feeling that they were going to get a one-handed Brady. Maybe that made them relax a bit, or at they very least distracted them a bit wondering just what was going on.
Inside the building I’m sure everyone knew what had happened and what the prognosis was, but that didn’t stop each and every one of them from playing the “I don’t really know” card. It must’ve been satisfying to play that game after a week of being on the defensive that everything was blowing up inside the Patriots organization. Instead, now they all rallied around Brady’s finger while the media twisted in the wind trying to figure out just what it meant.
So this Brady hand/finger thing was a new kind of rally point, instead of the usual kind where they’re under attack from pretty much everyone but their fans.
Of course there is one take to infuriate out there, which I first saw from Albert Breer asking if this called into question the trade of Garoppolo. It was a classic “this has to be asked” take which obviously runs contradictory to those who were just last week vehemently saying the Pats should’ve maxed Garoppolo’s value last offseason instead of pointlessly hanging on to him for another half season. It’s exhausting, random freak practice injuries are just a risk you always take in football, but for those of you brave enough, you can enjoy all that and more on the unbearable pregame shows that will run all day Sunday.
As for now, I think we’re going to see the Brady we’re used to seeing, but as I said in the gameplan the true key as I see it is the running game anyway.
[…] hand cut (let’s call it what it is) enabled the Pats to control the narrative this week but one terrible sidestory is the take that it gives Brady and the Pats a built-in excuse […]