Brady doesn't congratulate Garoppolo, Belichick doesn't worry about his QB
Oh, this is gonna be good. If there's anything Northeast fans and media love more than winning, it's griping about losing. And the New England Patriots are giving us an early preview of just how nasty it's going to get up Boston way over the next few seasons.
Look, at some point Tom Brady will hang up his cleats and NFL-strength hair-care products once and for all. That could be 2015, or it could be 2022, but it's going to happen. Question is, how will he and those around him deal with it?
Monday night gave us a hint of a possible future. The Chiefs de-pantsed the Patriots in front of a national television audience, in large part because Brady could get nothing going. (Yes yes offensive line sucks receivers can't catch refs are biased blah blah.) Brady finished 14-for-23 with one touchdown against two picks, and after that second pick, he took a seat on the sideline. And nooooobody got near him:
That's understandable, of course. But what happened after his replacement, Jimmy Garoppolo, drove New England down the field for a touchdown will be absolute red meat for Pats media and fans. As the Boston Globe, via FTW, notes:
Tom Brady gave passive high-fives to the other offensive players coming off the field — Gronk, Julian Edelman, the offensive linemen — but stayed clear of Garoppolo. Brady didn’t offer him any congratulations or daps.
When they returned to the bench, McDaniels sat in between them — Brady on the bench, Garoppolo on a water cooler. The two quarterbacks didn’t appear to speak. Brady watched the rest of the game silently with his arms folded, with no teammate coming within 20 feet of him.
You can hear the sports talk radio callers already, can't you? THAT'S POOAH SPOATSMANSHIP, TAWMMY!
In the postgame press conference, some brave soul, who deserves a steak dinner from his mates, asked Patriots head coach Bill Belichick if he would "consider evaluating the quarterback position." His response was flat-out vintage Bill:
Perfect. No, there's no quarterback controversy in New England, and there shouldn't be. New England could still get this turned around this season, and this night would be just an ugly half-memory.
Pouting Brady, scoffing Belichick. Sure, this is one possible way that the future could go. But if Ebenezer Scrooge and the X-Men have taught us anything, it's that the future can be changed. The opportunity for a proper, dignified exit in your hands, Patriots. Don't fumble it away this time. (Too soon?)
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Chat him up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
