You can understand why Tom Brady texted Deion Branch and Brandon Lloyd asking them to come back to Foxboro. It’s clear Lloyd is not coming back to football, certainly this year. Maybe not ever.
(Update: Brady denies NFL Network report that he contacted receivers)
Tom Brady likely says to himself everyday at work: “why am I surrounded by freaking idiots?” Of course, he’d never say that out loud because Tom Brady is, by design, the most boring human being on the face of the Earth. You can have a 30 minute exclusive with Tom Brady and it will give you as much material to work with for your story as 30 minutes of absolute silence.
But we’re not here to talk about how boring Brady is in press conferences, we’re here to talk about how horrible his receiving corps is, and how it probably eats him up inside.
Even if he can’t say anything about it. (But don’t feel too sorry for him, his wife Gisele is a supermodel AND a United Nations Ambassador)
Michael Strahan today: “They’re struggling to win games and there’s a lot of frustration from Tom Brady. On top of that, they don’t have the talent they’ve had in the past. I don’t know if the coaching can overcome the injuries, drops, or lack of talent from this Patriots team.”
Today, the New England Patriots had six receptions by backs, last week versus the Jets, when he was pretty bad, there were no receptions by backs. Julian Edelman is the only guy Brady can trust to even line up right. And be in the correct spot on his routes. Of course, even Edelman screws these things up sometimes.
It’s not all the fault of Tom Brady. He can’t help it that Aaron Hernandez is (allegedly) the slime of society. And acts and looks the part too. Tom Brady can’t control the health of Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski. It’s not his fault that the no-name rookie receivers have played exactly like you would expect no-names would.
ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson: “This is the same Tom Brady when they had Randy Moss, the Wes Welkers, but these guys delivered. In the offseason, he expected for these young guys to deliver and they delivered in the preseason. When the lights come on and it is for real, you have to carry the same energy and passion as you did in the preseason.”
ESPN’s Tom Jackson: “These are undrafted free agents who are unproven. Wes Welker eventually proved himself to be a great receiver. I thought that Tom Brady’s behavior was deplorable. If he didn’t have three Super Bowl rings and wasn’t a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, none of us would feel comfortable with what we saw.”
Of course, in 2006, the season of the infamous Deion Branch franchise tag melodrama, the Patriots had a pretty subpar receiving corps. And Brady still led that team to an AFC East title and conference championship game appearance.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan and 1620 The Zone, he also writes for Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and Facebook