Kind of a rant here....Tired, so bare with me...I also don't have thread starting priveleges here, and Im sure this has been discussed in the past, but thought I'd throw in my two cens..
It's actually a viscious cycle. Bledsoe after a few years got as good as he was going to get. He had his wife, she had a few kids during his Pats time, and as soon as the off season would hit, they would go to Washington. He'd return to NE for the required stuff. His leadership was always discussed, his effort discussed, poor decision-making etc. Him having kids and a family is totally great, his choice. I bring this up to discuss Brady.
I have played team sports (high school, college) and others who have too can tell you that the bonding and time spent together off the field for a team translates on the field as well. Going for beers together, getting together just to play video games, playing pick-up with each other in backyards or local fields, or just hanging out and talking. Brady used to do that when he was young (2001-2005). He had 100% attendance in the off-season programs. Got those attendance awards. There would be sightings of him posted on here at Foxwoods with some other teammates.
Not anymore. Naturally, everyone gets older. He has a couple of kids. He's married. In the offseason, he's gonna jet to Brazil to see his wife's family or he'll got CA to be with his family. Yeah, Welker went out there and they worked out together a few times at the UCLA field or whatever. But how cool would it have been for the rookies out here to see Brady at the rookie camp? For him to work with the new FAs early on?
Bruchi says something like "Tom Brady is not someone you have to worry about. He'll stay in shape." Yeah, that's not what I'm worried about. I expect he'll stay in shape. I'm worried about his leadership on the team by example.
Yes, his life is different now and his choices are those that we would all make. I recently scaled back my practice to spend more time with my kids. Less money, more responsiblity to my younger partners. I'll take on less complicated surgical cases. My choice. But it's a natural progression.
People are starting to talk about Brady much like they talked about Bledsoe back in the day. I hate it. I liked Bledsoe. I love Brady. And there are unfortunately those who only live by "what have you done for me lately?" fanhood. Total bull. If Brady has a couple of seasons (where the team sucks but numbers stay solid), guaranteed you'll see the "get him the F*ck out of here!!" threads. "Hoyer looked great, give him a chance."
Already, Brady is forcing passes, throwing critical interceptions (last year), fumbling on a key drive (against the Jets)....very Bledso-esque.
That's it. I'm done. Sorry for the long read. Flame away...
