Tom Brady has abided by the “Patriot Way” since New England drafted him nearly two decades ago, but recent reports have indicated the star quarterback might be breaking away from the mold.
Rumors regarding turmoil within the Patriots organization have been swirling since January, and new reports on the alleged issue seem to surface every week. The latest? Rumors that Brady is leading the pushback against head coach Bill Belichick and the culture that he’s created in New England.
During Wednesday’s edition of “The Herd” on FOX Sports 1, Colin Cowherd shared his take on why Brady would lead a charge of this nature, and the radio host believes it all comes down to recent events within the franchise.
“I think this all comes down to something that’s fairly obvious: Tom Brady was silenced for 18 years,” Cowherd said. “He was the good soldier for 18 years. He took pay cuts and he played the game. But he lost that Super Bowl to Nick Foles — a backup quarterback — because Malcolm Butler was not on the field and he got no heads up. It changed and it frankly changed before that because Bob Kraft elected to get Jimmy Garoppolo out of town. This is now Tom Brady’s team. He no longer fears Belichick, he sees Belichick as vulnerable, he has the owner’s ear, there is no backup quarterback and Tom Brady clearly has a better relationship with the media and (Adam) Schefter than New England does.”
While there could be some rift between Brady and Belichick, the rumored beef never was expected to interfere with football itself. That was until Wednesday when Schefter noted the Patriots quarterback still has yet to commit to playing in the 2018 season. And if it came down to Brady or Belichick, Cowherd believes it’s a no-brainer.
“He (Brady), when he leaves, if he leaves, this team will be awful,” Cowherd said. “Belichick could leave tomorrow and Tom and Josh McDaniels would win that division. If Brady leaves, and Tom knows this, it’s over. It’s over. Brian Hoyer is not winning eight games in the AFC next year.”
Cowherd is right: it’s tough to imagine Hoyer leading the Patriots to the playoffs in the upcoming season. But it’s even tougher to imagine Brady hanging up his cleats, leading one to believe that it will be business as usual for New England in the 2018 campaign.
