A couple things still strike me about the MacMullan feature. Johnson was upset that he was "forced" to practice that day in August, yet was so irate that when he wasn't going to be active for the first game that he walked out on the team. It doesn't appear that Johnson was practicing much during that time in between, even Borges had a line in a column from that period on the lack of depth at middle linebacker where he asked "Where is Ted Johnson? - Nobody knows."
Another item to consider is how forceful the hit in practice on J.R. Redmond back in 2002 was. This is the description in the MacMullan article:
In the 9-on-7 drill, running back J.R. Redmond barreled up the middle, where Johnson was waiting. Although the two only made mild contact, Johnson said he immediately began experiencing the warm, hazy sensation of a concussion.
But note how Nick Cafardo reported it the day after it happened, on August 14th, 2002:
Ted Johnson suffered a concussion in last Saturday's 22-19 loss to the New York Giants, which is why he wore a red shirt at Monday's practice. Yesterday, he made quite a hit on J.R. Redmond to stuff him in a goal-line situation.
Was it "mild contact" or "quite a hit?" Who is exaggerating here?
MacMullan's piece leads you to believe that Johnson was placed in full action the very next practice after the hit he took in the Giants game. The Cafardo piece tells us that Johnson was in the red practice jersey on Monday, and then the Redmond hit was on Tuesday.
I really feel for Johnson and hope for the best for him. He has a tough road ahead of him. I'm more uncomfortable with the slant that is being put on this story all around the country. On any major sports site, you're sure to see a headline along these lines:
* Ex-Pats linebacker blames Belichick for depression (ESPN.com and FoxSports.com)
* Johnson: Belichick, Pats ignored my concussion (SI.com)
* Ex-LB: Belichick made me play with concussion (MSNBC.com)
* Report: Ex-Pats LB blames ills on Belichick (NBCSports.com)
* Ex-Patriot blames concussions on Belichick (CBS.Sportsline.com)
If Johnson really blames Belichick for all his problems, why in the world would he be wishing for, or expecting a call from the Patriots coach after Junior Seau went down this season? It makes no sense.
Peter King on WEEI with Dale & Holley today when asked for comment on the situation, called it "an extremely disturbing portrait of how the Patriots run their organization." When given the quotes from the Felger article in December where Johnson talked about coming back to the Patriots, King simply said "wow", stammered, and backpeddled.
