More specificly, the rumer that was circulating last week that Brady could miss the 2009 season. I believe this is total BS myself but who knows.
The Patriots have a history of underreporting/overreporting injury status for strategic purposes. Could these rumors of more Brady setbacks be started by the team? Would it be benificial for the team to perpetuate this rumor? Does it give them leverage in negotiations with Cassel?
I think that the more Brady's future is in question, the more value Cassel carries. Could this be a ploy to increase trade value for Cassel?
Could be. Could be that BB does intend a franchise and trade and is setting up a defense for criticism ahead of time. Yes, I know the Bills did a franchise and trade of a FA several years ago, but it is relatively rare (certainly not one a year), and is not what the franchise tag was meant to be used for. Saying that other teams franchise and tag is about as good a defense as saying other teams try to steal signals. Okay for the Dolphins and Colts, but not for the Pats.
So BB could be preventing that by planting doubt. If so, well, BB respects Curran like he does Reiss, and he gives Reiss stuff all the time. Could be a smoke screen.
But...
But... the Curran
Brady-rehab-not-on-schedule reports and the
Brady-rehab on-schedule reports are not as contradictory as they sound.
Curran is saying that Brady has scar tissue which must be remove, necessitating another scoping, and more improtantly, he says the ACL and MCL are looser than they should be. No idea where he got that info, but if true, it would require another surgery which has two problems: 1) it cannot be done until the first is fully rehabbed, and 2) would require a full ACL rehab in itself.
People who dispute Curran say that Brady is on schedule because he is working out daily. No one has yet (that I've seen) directly disputed Curran and said, "No, Brady's ACL and MCL are not loose and they are fine."
Like everything else, there is more than one possibility even if all the facts are known. It isn't like there is a recovery that only can happen one way. Brady could recover fine, or the scar tissue/looseness could cause a problem.
I don't see this as Curran must be wrong because he is the only voice, at least until some in the Pats FO disputes him with more than, "Tom Brady is working out every day."
If it were Tomasse or Borges or one of the EEI donkeys, I might be more inclined to blow off the report. But just as with poor journalists we take with a grain of salt and say, "Prove it," we need to recongnize that some journalists are better and you will be right more than you will be wrong if you pay attention to Reiss, Curran, Gaspar, and Breer.
