You either have to be sick of all this mess or scared to death.<\/p>\n
Every day, more of your basic life is getting restricted.\u00a0 Theaters, bars and restaurants have to either close or allow six feet of space between patrons.\u00a0 If you\u2019re 65 or older, stay inside until further notice.\u00a0 Don\u2019t go anywhere if more than 20 people are there.<\/p>\n
Schools are closing left and right nationwide.\u00a0 Yours Truly is about to embark on a month-long Spring Break.\u00a0 Students can forget about such things as athletic competition, field trips, and senior proms.\u00a0 Eighth and twelfth graders might be \u201cchecking out\u201d right now, if they haven\u2019t started already.<\/p>\n
And of course, what\u2019s left of the national and world sports scene?\u00a0 You name it, it\u2019s either postponed or cancelled.\u00a0 All pro sports, the Masters, all on hold.\u00a0 March Madness is off.<\/p>\n
So, what\u2019s left?\u00a0 NFL free agency, and the beginning of legal tampering on Monday.<\/p>\n
Which means that in this part of the nation, and also the rest of the USA, all our attention will temporarily shift away from this COVID-19 pandemic and shift towards Tom Brady.\u00a0 Because, as we all know, the NFL quarterback GOAT could possibly leave the only team he has ever known.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be clear:\u00a0 If there was a Mount Rushmore of Boston area pro athletes in history, Brady is on it.\u00a0 If there was a Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks, Brady is on it.\u00a0 If there is a Mount Rushmore of all NFL players, Brady is (arguably) on it.<\/p>\n
Brady may leave the Patriots this week, or soon thereafter.\u00a0 Or he may stay.\u00a0 So can we please set aside, without totally ignoring, all concerns pertaining to the Coronavirus just for a few days?\u00a0 And let\u2019s get back to talking about sports without using the words \u201ccancelled\u201d or \u201cpostponed\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is no small deal.\u00a0 It is all the sports news we need right now, and it is the only sports news, period.\u00a0 All these sports talk shows can devote the entire time to Brady all week long, especially if rumours of his signing somewhere are imminent.<\/p>\n
Media types will be all over this.\u00a0 NFL info guru Adam Schefter was seen on NFL Network on Sunday being interviewed by Hannah Storm.\u00a0 She had to interrupt him as he was checking his cellphone on air.\u00a0 Nothing will get past this guy, especially if it\u2019s Tom Brady related.\u00a0 The last thing on his mind right now is making sure the stores have enough hand sanitizer or toilet paper.<\/p>\n
This week is Brady Week.\u00a0 It all started Monday.\u00a0 Teams can finally (or at least overtly) begin talking with Don Yee, Brady\u2019s agent.\u00a0 They can\u2019t talk to Tom himself until Wednesday, when the GOAT can finally (or at least overtly) talk to other teams himself.\u00a0 Brady will then finally learn if there is a market for him.\u00a0 Brady will (hopefully) learn whether or not the grass is greener on the other side.\u00a0 Or, if you can\u2019t get enough clich\u00e9, Brady will (hopefully) get to see if he may go from the skillet to the frying pan.<\/p>\n
What really matters in all this is how Bill Belichick feels.\u00a0 After seeing Jimmy Garoppolo in the most recent Super Bowl (bad fourth quarter performance notwithstanding), Bob Kraft may stay away from this fray and let His Hoodiness call this one.\u00a0 Which way is Belichick leaning?\u00a0 No one knows.\u00a0 No one will know until it goes down.\u00a0 What \u201cit\u201d turns out to be will fuel the media flames this week, and it should keep fans talking all the while, and not about staying in small groups or wearing face masks.<\/p>\n
From this vantage point, here are the various likely results of what has to be the most momentous Patriotic fork in the road since Mo Lewis clobbered Drew Bledsoe almost 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
Brady stays.\u00a0 Nothing makes him want to leave, Brady capitulates and takes what Belichick offers him.<\/p>\n
Brady leaves.\u00a0 With Tennessee now out of the picture after re-signing Ryan Tannehill, the likely landing spots are the Chargers, Raiders and Buccaneers.\u00a0 Neither place is a sure-fire obvious choice.\u00a0 The Raiders and Bucs are substandard teams who need more than a 43-year-old quarterback.\u00a0 The Chargers were a good team last year but have zero indigenous Los Angeles fans and every home game will have a road game feel.\u00a0 But Brady could perhaps be swayed by either stupid money, a false sense of going to a better situation than the one he\u2019s got, or simply that he\u2019s sick of Belichick and the Patriots and just wants to leave and realize his dream of retiring at age 45.<\/p>\n
Belichick tells Brady that he\u2019s going in another direction, and\u2026<\/p>\n
He signs free agent Teddy Bridgewater.\u00a0 Any other free agent quarterback signing is not a good deal.\u00a0 Trading for someone like Andy Dalton also isn\u2019t smart.\u00a0 Bridgewater represents the best chance out there to keep the Patriot winning tradition going for at least a little while longer until the next phenom quarterback comes along.\u00a0 Or\u2026<\/p>\n
He hands the car keys to Jarrett Stidham, with Cody Kessler as his backup.\u00a0 If you liked what you saw last year from Stidham, okay.\u00a0 Is Stidham anywhere near the equal of Garoppolo or Jacoby Brissett?\u00a0 Not on your many cases of bottled water you can\u2019t find.\u00a0 But Belichick may have seen enough of Stidham to use him like he did Brissett:\u00a0 manage the game, don\u2019t win the game.\u00a0 That tactic worked great for the 49ers until the Super Bowl, when Jimmy G melted down in the end.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case, this is a huge week for the Patriots, quite possibly a franchise-changing week.\u00a0 That is not overstating things.\u00a0 Brady has to leave some day.\u00a0 Is that day this week, and if so, whither the Patriots if he does?<\/p>\n
What may turn out to be the result of all this is that both the Patriots and Brady are the best current options for each other.\u00a0 In this quarterback-rich draft, none of the top tier quarterbacks will fall to the Patriots unless they trade up, and Belichick seems to only trade down.\u00a0 Save for some unforeseen draft deal (and put Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa out of your mind), Brady will stay put because it\u2019s the best for him.\u00a0 And the Patriots will keep Brady because there is no better, blow you out of the water, option out there.<\/p>\n
But we still need to talk about it until something happens.\u00a0 So fine, talk about it.\u00a0 Call up your local radio show and give your opinion.\u00a0 The more you scream and yell like a lunatic, the more airtime you\u2019ll get.\u00a0 Text or email your favorite (or least favorite) columnist and vent.\u00a0 Start rumours.\u00a0 Start arguments.\u00a0 Turn all this into something bigger than some Chinese virus.<\/p>\n
Because after 2 weeks of this pandemic and all that\u2019s happened, we need relief and in large doses.\u00a0 Brady has big shoulders, and he can take all the attention.<\/p>\n
Step up, Mister GOAT, for the national sports scene is all yours this week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What\u2019s left of the national and world sports scene?\u00a0 You name it, it\u2019s either postponed or cancelled.\u00a0 All pro sports, the Masters, all on hold.\u00a0 March Madness is off. So, what\u2019s left?\u00a0 NFL free agency, and the beginning of legal tampering on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":21608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n