Yes, I''ll be rooting for Tom Brady


I get that a lot of New England Patriot fans remain bitter about the Patriots-Brady divorce, which landed the GOAT in Tampa Bay. But count me as among those fans who were rooting for the Bucs and Tom Brady in Sunday’s National Football Conference Championship game against the Green Bay Packers.
All season long, I wished Brady the best, knowing that back in March of last year, there wasn’t a realistic route to Brady staying with the Patriots, given how inferior the Patriots' offensive weapons had been in 2019 and how there was little chance for improvement in 2020.
Plus -- and Pats' fans just have to admit it -- there was a lot of bad blood between head coach Bill Belichick and Brady, and the GOAT wanted out.
The Pats at least had a fairly productive Julian Edelman to catch Brady’s passes in 2019, but with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick being unwilling to surround Brady with better receivers and a bona fide tight end, Brady felt he had no choice but to move on.
And if Brady had stayed, the Patriots may have won one or two more games, but they wouldn't have made the playoffs, because Edelman was hurt for most of the year, and their offensive weapons were weak, except for wide receiver Jakobi Meyers and running back Damien Harris, before he got injured.
Brady, meanwhile, had an up-and-down season through 12 games, when the Bucs were 7-5. Then they won seven straight games, including three in the playoffs, and will face the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time this season in Super Bowl LV at Tampa Bay, which will make the Bucs the first team to play for the NFL title on their home turf.
I’ll be among the Patriots fans rooting for Brady when he plays in his 10th Super Bowl on Feb. 7. Brady’s presence is a great story line, and it will make the game interesting after the dismal season that the Patriots gave to their fans in 2020.
Get used to rooting for Brady with the Bucs. Pats’ fans will be forced to live vicariously through Brady for the next few years, because after 2020, it’s clear that Belichick feels no urgency to turn the Pats around and will be very unlikely to draft the team’s next quarterback in the first round. Let’s just hope that Belichick does move on from Cam Newton, who was an unmitigated disappointment at quarterback in 2020.

Comments

  1. Steddybirds January 29, 2021 at 6:45 PM

    I’m with you. We gotta root for the “old guy” to win the Super Bowl!

    ReplyDelete

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