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Tom Brady’s Deflategate Suspension Reinstated

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Tom Brady's Deflategate SuspensionThe US Second Court of Appeals reinstated Tom Brady’s Deflategate suspension today and this could be the end of the line for Brady and the NFLPA’s chances at appealing it, meaning the Pats could have Jimmy Garoppolo under center to start the 2016 season.

Essentially this court ruled 2-1 that Roger Goodell has the power to do whatever he wants because of the powers the NFLPA gave him in the latest CBA. We’re so far past this being actually about what actually happened with the balls during the 2014 AFC Championship Game, and here we sit, a year-and-a-half later with judges going back and forth ruling just what exactly the NFL can do to its players.

The NFLPA is weighing their options, which include trying to take this to the Supreme Court, but that could be a long shot. Now, it might just be in the best interest of everyone to drop it. This kills me to say it. The NFL played this whole investigation to win by any means necessary from the get-go. It was never about the truth and yes, it’s infuriating that they can stack the deck at every turn, leak lies to the media to support their version of the events and shape the narrative they want, then finally levy an unprecedented punishment at their whim.

Winnable Games in September

As I’ve said all along the real damage is the first round pick the Patriots won’t have this Thursday. Clearly that ship has sailed regardless, and with four picks in the first two rounds, I still think the Pats can overcome that loss of draft capital.

What are the real potential ramifications if Brady does sit the first four games: @ Cardinals, vs. Dolphins, vs. Texans, and vs. Bills?

Obviously Jimmy Garoppolo is now entering year three and has shown enough potential and should have a grasp of the offense that the Patriots should not be in a death spiral, especially getting the two most favorable divisional games on the schedule, though neither are certain victories. If those games were on the road in Miami and Buffalo, things might be a little different.

With Garoppolo, the Pats would have to scratch and claw in all four of those games, but I’d expect 2-2 at worst.

The entire Patriots starting defense except for Chandler Jones returns and they also still have the most talented offensive weapon on the field for those first four games – Rob Gronkowski, not to mention Julian Edelman, Martellus Bennett, Danny Amendola and maybe even Dion Lewis working back into the mix. Even without Brady pulling the trigger, there’s a ton of talent all over this roster, and let’s remember that even with Brady, the Pats have seen their share of 2-2 starts.

The point is, the first four games of the season are not going to make or break the Pats’ 2016 campaign.

Part of me almost welcomes the challenge. Maybe that’s just due to being so sick of Deflategate and lawyers and judges that I just want to stop having to think and blog about them. But it’s also like when I used to play season after season of Madden on franchise mode and it got to the point where it was no longer challenging so I’d always trade my best players away to league rivals to at least make things interesting.

So Jimmy G is very likely going to get a shot to show what he can do and I can’t imagine Brady feels great about that on top of having the suspension reinstated.

We can only hope that someday the NFL gets what’s coming to them and that some more truths from behind the scenes come out. But at this point I’m so ready to put Deflategate finally behind us, even if it means giving Tom a September break.

Now back to draft analysis to cleanse the pallet…

 

Best Patriots Game of 2015?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbUrySDe5s

Looking back on the 2015 season now that we have some separation, I have to go with the thrilling last-second victory over the Giants as my best Patriots game of 2015. After this game there wasn’t much else to get excited about. Yes, the playoff win over the Chiefs was a solid victory, especially after the ass-pounding they handed us in 2014, but nothing tops finally beating Eli and the Giants for the first time since 2007’s 16-0 game.

The 4th-and-10 conversion to Danny Amendola on the final drive was a Tom Brady masterpiece. Such focus and poise in the pocket on a must-get play. Amendola also had a huge 82-yard punt return that sparked the comeback. It felt good to tear the Giants’ hearts out with a last second win for a change. This time around Eli just left too much time on the clock, as the Pats have done for him the last three matchups, including both Super Bowls.

Unfortunately the game was not without it’s significant injury hits, as Julian Edelman would miss the rest of the regular season after this one, seven games, in which the Pats went 3-4. So in many ways this win was the high water point of the season.

This was also the first game without Dion Lewis and the ground game struggles that would haunt the Pats the rest of the season started to show. They’d finish with 23 carries for 77 yards, a 3.3 yards-per-rush average.

Other 2015 contenders include the opening Thursday win over the Steelers, an tougher-than-expected battle with the Colts (who can forget their punt play?), and pounding an upstart Dolphins team. Not a lot of unforgettable games last year, but 2016 should change that with a beast of schedule.

Best Patriots Game of 2015

 

Reflections on a Rival: Happy Trails, Peyton Manning

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A rivalry for the ages is over and even Patriots fans should appreciate Peyton. (AP Photo/ Charles Krupa)

As you might’ve heard already, Peyton Manning is retiring. It’s hard to imagine an NFL landscape without Manning, much less being a Patriots fan and knowing Manning will no longer be in the way in the AFC. Aside from all the Brady vs. Manning debate, Peyton was the ultimate rival and ended Tom Brady and the Patriots season more times than anyone else.

This isn’t going to be another Brady vs. Manning article, nor will it be one where we dive into all the allegations that surround Manning as he calls it quits. This is about tipping the cap to a rival who enhanced all of our football viewing experiences over the last 15-plus years.

The painful place to start with Manning are the six times he beat the Patriots, the most painful of which were the 2006, 2013 and 2015 AFC Championships. Then there’s the most infamous regular season loss of Belichick’s reign, the 4th-and-2 game. Of those, the 2006 AFC Championship and the 4th-and-2 game stand out the most.

In 2013, the decimated Pats were a shell of themselves in the AFC Championship, and in 2015 Manning was a shell of himself. Those weren’t defining Patriots vs. Peyton games. But 2006’s AFC Championship was one of those infamous Patriots dynasty games where I remember every single ebb and flow of the game, and the 2009 4th-and-2 game played out much the same way — Patriots get a big lead, Manning hits unstoppable mode and the Pats run out of gas right at the end. There aren’t many worse ways to lose a game, especially if it’s to go to the Super Bowl, but those two games embodied everything about what made Manning great, and a terrifying opponent to face.

Beating Manning was what defined the early days of the Patriots dynasty. In 2003 and 2004, Manning was lighting up the rest of the NFL, but it was the New England defense, a veteran squad perfectly in tune with Bill Belichick, that got the last laugh four times in those two seasons, including twice in the playoffs. Those were the years that established Brady-Manning, despite them meeting twice in 2001 to little fanfare.

Then came 2005, when the Patriots’ defense had started to come apart. That made it open season for Manning as he led the Colts to three-straight wins – including 2006’s regular season win in Foxboro, the last time Manning would beat Brady in New England. And after capturing his first Super Bowl in 2006, Brady-Manning/Patriots-Peyton truly became a rivalry.

Then came the Pats’ offensive retooling in 2007 that set the stage for another one of the best games in the Patriots recent history. Both teams were undefeated when they faced off in the middle of the season and the Pats would come from behind to knock Manning off in Indy, the last time they’d ever beat Peyton on the road.

Manning’s Bronco years saw Denver travel to New England three straight seasons from 2012-2014 and lose all three in epic fashion. In 2012 the Pats put up 250 rushing yards on the Broncos in a 31-21 win. In 2013, the Pats erased a 24-0 halftime deficit to win 34-31 in overtime. Finally, in 2014, the Patriots left no doubt, hammering the Broncos in all aspects 43-21.

It was that game in 2014 when I knew it might be last time to catch a Brady-Manning game. I met up before the game with Nick Stevens (aka Fitzy), George Kippenham (aka the “other” Pats guy”) and Jerry Thornton. Then we watched the Pats destroy Manning and the Broncos in a game that featured just about everything you could ask for. It was pretty much the perfect day and one I’ll never forget. We hoped at the time it would be the last ever Brady-Manning game, but we just had to settle for it being the last Brady win over Manning. I’ll take it.

As the venue shifted back to Denver, starting with the 2013 AFC Championship, things unfolded differently, culminating with two fluky games in 2015 that defined (and ended) the Patriots’ season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8bEE0X58Ss

For all the talk of the Brady-Manning rivalry, after 2007 all that really mattered was who was playing at home. In each game from that point the home team always seemed to get the bounces, or catch fire with unstoppable momentum at the key moments.

What will I remember most about facing a Peyton Manning team? That no lead, no matter how large, was ever safe. Manning always seemed to know exactly where to go with the ball and who to pick on. Bill Belichick got plenty of criticism trying to close the 4th-and-2 game out by going for it in his own territory, but that sums up facing Peyton Manning. Once he got a read on things it was near impossible to stop him.

The AFC just won’t be the same without Peyton Manning. No matter how he looked at the end of last season, just knowing that the Patriots won’t have to face him and all the storylines and attention the game would receive is both exciting and sad. Exciting because it’s one less thing to worry about on the way to the Super Bowl, but sad because we’ll never see two of the great QBs to ever play the game face off again.

He is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. I don’t care to convince anyone which quarterbacks were better or worse than him. He will always be a huge part of the Patriots history and his legacy is unavoidably enmeshed with Belichick and Brady’s.

The Pats had their moments vs. Manning, and he had his moments against them. Now, at the end of it all, it’s easy to say he made football better for even Patriots fans, whether they were beating him or losing to him. He gave you a million reasons to watch, to be nervous, to want to beat him, and almost every single game was an epic battle. Whether you loved or hated him, he reset the bar for NFL quarterback play and it was a privilege to watch him compete.

Peyton Manning retires from NFL; Tom Brady: ‘He set the standard’ | The MMQB with Peter King

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“What just happened, winning the Super Bowl in his last game, is a perfect way to end a career. But what he’s accomplished through all these years, what makes it so admirable, is the pressure he’s had on him his whole life. He was the highest-rated recruit in high school. He was the biggest quarterback in college football. He was the first pick in the draft. Who has lived up to the expectations year after year after year as well as Peyton? He’s done it so gracefully, so admirably. He set the standard for how to play the quarterback position.”

Source: Peyton Manning retires from NFL; Tom Brady: ‘He set the standard’ | The MMQB with Peter King

Nothing has been clearer in the last day how much mutual respect Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have for each other. From this piece from The MMQB with Brady praising Manning, to Manning specifically mentioning post-game handshakes with Brady in his final press conference, these two and their rivalry has defined the AFC for the last decade-plus.

Now, on the verge of Free Agency, you wonder how the Manning vacuum will be filled. No, he wasn’t the same threat anymore by the end, but the weight of Manning’s presence could always be felt even when his arm was toast. Now it’s hard to argue that Brady and the Pats stand alone in the AFC. Plenty of teams will make free agency splashes that will be spun as making a new contender or two in the AFC, but free agency rarely wins championships and a healthy Patriots team in 2016 is still easily the class of the conference.

Report: Tom Brady signs two-year contract extension with Patriots

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Tom Brady has said he wants to play into his 40s and now with a new two-year contract extension with the New England Patriots, he has a deal in place that will take him to 42. The deal was first reported by Adam Schefter with this tweet:

The deal would last through the 2019 season, which would take Brady to a clean 20 years with the Patriots. But more importantly, Brady’s extension should lower his projected 2016 cap hit of $15 million.  Last week Jeff Howe reported the Pats hadn’t had any conversations with any of their pending free agents or extension candidates but now it seems like Brady was the priority and who can complain about that?

tom brady snow art

 

This changes the dynamic that was setting up to make 2017 a big question mark when both Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo‘s contracts were due to be up. You wondered then if that would open the door for Garoppolo to take over for Brady, but now it appears Brady isn’t going anywhere and that the Patriots feel comfortable enough with his level of play that they think he’s got at least two more elite seasons left and more likely three.

As for the fourth and final year of the deal, who knows where Brady or the Patriots will be at. Not many high end players see the final year of their deals with the Patriots, but Brady is obviously in a class by himself.

As for Garoppolo, Shefter said on WEEI that he didn’t think the Pats would trade their 2014 second-round pick. Though we haven’t seen much if any decline from Brady, it is comforting to have a knowledgeable and promising backup behind a quarterback pushing 40. Still, I think if the price was right, the Pats would have to consider moving Garoppolo, if not this season, then next, entering the final year of his deal. Or they could just hang on to him, hope he signs a significant free agent deal after 2017 and the Pats will get a compensatory pick for him.

However it plays out, this is great news that Brady’s got four more years to get that decisive fifth Super Bowl.

Friday Pats Video: Tom Brady Sports Science

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eph2KkXI4sE

Won’t be long before the Pats news starts pouring in, but for now we’re stuck in the first void of the offseason, forced to watch college football players in skimpy outfits perform drills that will analyzed over and over. So here’s a little look at Brady and his mechanics as well as a look into his unstoppable QB sneak. Happy Friday!

Tom Brady, Patriots’ offense built to adapt

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Tom Brady, Patriots’ offense built to adapt

One of those great reads that really gives insight into what makes the Patriots offense with Brady so special. What would fans rather have? Sitting on the “Belichick can’t draft WRs” line or running an offense that is near impossible to stop once it’s going. Loved the line about Edelman “getting it” because he was a college quarterback. The search for more weapons will continue this offseason.