The New England Patriots showed their current potential in a Sunday night drubbing of the Pittsburgh Steelers. And with the addition of star wide receiver Antonio Brown looming, saying the sky is the limit for the Patriots moving forward seems to undersell things.
The Patriots, fresh off their 30-point trouncing of the Steelers, are about to add one of if not the best wide receiver in the NFL when Brown joins the roster. He has a chance to make the already elite New England offense legendary, but Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is aware that won’t happen without some work being done.
“There was a lot of positive emotion when it happened,” Brady told NBC Sports’ Peter King early Monday morning. “But you know, everybody says ‘Whoa, this is what it can be and what potential they have’ But you know, the teams I’ve been on, they go to work.”
Sounds like a slight challenge to the mercurial Brown, no?
Brady continued: “The NFL’s a competitive place. Lots of moving parts. Lots of adjustment, constantly. Week to week, a guy gets hurt, a guy gets picked up you don’t know, you’re constantly manipulating your team.
“We lost our right tackle (Marcus Cannon) tonight for who knows how long. Like, ‘Oh, (expletive), that’s a big deal.’ Now we’ll add Antonio, and he’s got to … there’s a lot to learn.”
We’ve seen on more than one occasion — Chad Ochocinco and Reggie Wayne stand out quite vividly — that it’s not always easy for a veteran wide receiver to come to New England and quickly pick up the system while developing chemistry with Brady.
“The point is, it’s one thing to talk about, it’s another thing to go do it. Let’s go do it. That’s what my attitude is,” Brady told King.
Brady almost certainly will do all he can to make sure Brown hits the ground running in Foxboro, perhaps going as far as sheltering the All-Pro receiver until he finds a place to live. With how much the Patriots have invested in Brown, it makes sense to give him the best possible situation to succeed. But reading between the lines with Brady’s quotes to King, it sure seems like Brown will have to earn all he gets.
It’s likely Brown will receive his first chance to impress next Sunday when New England travels to Miami to take on a Dolphins team that is licking its wounds after an embarrassing 59-10 loss to Baltimore in Week 1.
