I suppose there's no way to rest Brady at the start of 2017 as well?

[Thelonious]

If we could figure out a way to soften his balls, we could get him suspended again! His balls are already pretty pliable as it is, of course, because of all the avacados, so we're facing a real challenge here.

 

[deters]

Jimmy starts all the easy games, Brady all the hard. #winning

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

This is going to be a long off season.

It would have been even longer had they not defeated Atlanta.....

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I disagree because I want them to do what makes the offense run best with the personnel they have and not severely hamstring the team by running 60% of the time to "protect" Brady.

Totally agree. If we need to bench Brady for 1/4 of the season and reduce the number of pass attempts per game and totally change the way we want to play because of our QB, that's probably a bigger problem than how to increase his longevity.

If everyone's that concerned about his health, let's just have him retire and put him in a glass case at Patriots Place. Otherwise, he's a football player. He needs to play football. He's really ****ing good at playing football. People need to stop trying to make up excuses to prevent him from playing football.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Totally agree. If we need to bench Brady for 1/4 of the season and reduce the number of pass attempts per game and totally change the way we want to play because of our QB, that's probably a bigger problem than how to increase his longevity.

There's a phrase for having to do those things. The phrase is "time to replace your quarterback"

 

[Froob]

Unless Houston gets a QB...it's Pats/Steelers again.

Or Denver getting a QB.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

You want NE to bench their uninjured best player for 4-6 games?

Ima just logout for now

 

[luuked]

While a bit misguided this topic is pretty important.

The truth of the matter is that Tom is old. He needs to be managed and on a pitch count.

BB will manage his preseason and practice schedule throughout out the year. This is a given.

I do think they will make an effort to keep Tom under 500 throws for the year.

I think they will run the ball 500+ times this year.

I don't see it. There is a reason in other US sports to give people time of and it's because the regular season is insanely packed with games. In the NFL we are talking about 16 games over the course of 17 weeks. They might lessen his load a bit in practice but with every game being as important as they are (because of the scarcity of games) I don't think Brady's age will affect anything much until the moment he actually shows signs of slowing down. You do what gives your team the best chance to win.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't see it. There is a reason in other US sports to give people time of and it's because the regular season is insanely packed with games. In the NFL we are talking about 16 games over the course of 17 weeks. They might lessen his load a bit in practice but with every game being as important as they are (because of the scarcity of games) I don't think Brady's age will affect anything much until the moment he actually shows signs of slowing down. You do what gives your team the best chance to win.

They pulled him out of practices last year because of his age. He was also a little banged up and he takes longer to heal .

Granted they will do what it takes to win . If they need to throw it, he will throw it. I do think they will find more opportunities to run the ball so he isn't chucking it 600 times next year

 

[Kontradiction]

What a ****bag thread.

 

[XLIX]

Is there any way we can put to rest threads like this?

 

[TomPatriot]

The OP raises an interesting question. Brady clearly benefitted from the 4 games off: shorter season, less chance of injury, less wear and tear on his body, etc. Thanks Roger, you ginger f*%k!

He's never sitting out. I think the only answer is better pass blocking and a deep threat. Cooks addresses the deep threat. Maybe there will be one or two OL signings too.

 

[ivanvamp]

Would prefer they game managed more and went 60/40 towards a running game than sit Brady.

A better way to do it would be for the Patriots to be up by 30 going into the fourth quarter, so he gets to rest every fourth quarter. That ends up meaning he's playing 3/4 of the time, or the equivalent of missing the first four games.

 

[Soliel]

I know one thing.. Im recording games from now on. He wont like coming out of games.