Bill Belichick isn’t one to make exceptions. As such, it’s likely Tom Brady won’t take the field Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.
The New England Patriots quarterback is “highly expected” not to play in his team’s preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers based on Belichick’s long-held rule that you can’t play if you don’t practice, NFL Network’s Stacey Dales reported Wednesday, citing multiple sources.
Brady was absent from Patriots practice Tuesday and also missed Wednesday’s training camp session. His circumstances, of course, are a bit exceptional, as he has been in New York preparing for Wednesday’s meeting with U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman.
Yet rules are rules, and while Belichick said at a press conference Tuesday that his staff will wait to decide how to divvy up Thursday’s playing time, it’s certainly plausible he’d hold Brady out after missing two consecutive practices.
Brady’s absence would leave quarterback duties in Thursday’s contest to second-year man Jimmy Garoppolo and newcomer Ryan Lindley, whom the team signed Monday after releasing quarterback Matt Flynn.
Garoppolo, whose performance in practice has been up and down without Brady in the mix, is expected to get the majority of the reps.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
