Tom Brady's fanatical aversion to injuries could be the Patriots' fatal flaw, ESPN report says

Are Tom Brady and Bill Belichick headed for a breakup? (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

Take any NFL dynasty and I’ll give you a dynasty that either ended, or had its end hastened, by an injury to that team’s quarterback.

The Steelers’ Terry Bradshaw needed a cortisone shot before every game of the 1982 season — even with an eight-week break thanks to the players’ strike — because of elbow pain and then had surgery the following offseason. He would play in only one more NFL game in 1983 before calling it quits, and Pittsburgh would spend the next decade or so flirting or fully engaging with mediocrity.

The 49ers’ Joe Montana missed all of the 1991 season and all but the second half of the final game of the 1992 regular season, also with an elbow injury. Steve Young already was in place as a very capable replacement by the time San Francisco traded Montana to the Chiefs in 1993, and the 49ers would add to their Super Bowl tally with Young at the helm in the 1994-95 season, but Young himself saw his career ended by concussions and San Francisco spent more than a decade in the wilderness.

The Cowboys won three Super Bowls with Troy Aikman at quarterback. Since he retired after the 2000 season because of head and back injuries, they have only two playoff victories.

Obviously, the teams mentioned above were successful for reasons went far beyond their quarterbacks, but all four of the above-mentioned signal-callers ended up in the Hall of Fame. Tom Brady will end up in Canton, too, after leading the Patriots to five Super Bowl wins in seven appearances with another berth on the table this season. Apart from a lost 2008 season that was ended by ligament tears in the first quarter of New England’s first game, he’s been remarkably healthy throughout his career, a fact he has chalked up in recent years to a training and dietary regimen devised by Alex Guerrero, with whom he has developed his “TB12 Method” life-coaching brand.

And that fanatical devotion to both his own health and the brand that he hopes to build off it is what seemingly will bring down the Patriots’ dynasty, according to a story published Friday by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham that details the inner turmoil that has roiled New England this year.

Some of Wickersham’s reporting isn’t exactly breaking new ground. Both the Boston Globe and the Boston Sports Journal reported last month that Brady’s relationship with Guerrero had created an uncomfortable vibe at Patriots HQ, enough that Coach Bill Belichick had revoked many of Guerrero’s team privileges and that some of the team had started referring to Guerrero as “Yoko,” a callback to the woman who allegedly hastened the Beatles’ demise all those decades ago. But Wickersham takes things further:

>> Starting in 2013, Belichick allowed Guerrero to sit in on meetings in which the medical records of Patriots’ players were discussed (the trainer denied that he had actually seen any of the records). “But Guerrero often would blame Patriots trainers for injuries, while offering few insightful opinions of his own, and Belichick quickly realized inviting him had been a mistake,” Wickersham reports.

>>That Patriots players felt pressure from Brady — who obviously has amassed a sizable amount of power in the locker room, with new players calling him “sir” — to get treatment from Guerrero at the TB12 Sports Therapy Center near the team’s training facility. Belichick confronted Brady about this early this season, according to Wickersham, though no resolution was reached.

>> That backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo sought treatment at TB12 after injuring his shoulder while replacing Brady during his 2016 Deflategate suspension, only to find the doors locked. Wickersham says Garoppolo eventually got treatment there two weeks later, but only after a high-ranking team official called to ask why he hadn’t been admitted.

The anecdote was telling and serves as the spine for the second thrust of Wickersham’s story: That the team simply didn’t know how to handle the Garoppolo situation. According to Wickersham, the Patriots “repeatedly” offered the future free agent $17 million to $18 million annually to remain as Brady’s backup, with the promise of a further raise once he ascended to the starting role. But Garoppolo’s team — led by agent Don Yee, who also represents Brady — rejected the offers, which probably was for the best on both sides. Why would Garoppolo take any deal that limits his earning potential and doesn’t explicitly promise him a starting job? Why would the Patriots — so usually savvy in their salary-cap maneuverings — devote so much money to a player they knew wouldn’t be taking the field unless Brady got hurt? (Again, Brady seems to devote much of his energy into not getting hurt and has said he wants to play into his mid-40s.)

Eventually, Belichick was forced by owner Robert Kraft to engineer a midseason trade of Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers, getting a mere second-round pick in return. The move left him “furious and demoralized,” his friends told Wickersham.

Garoppolo went on to win all five of his starts for the 49ers, a fact that Wickersham says delighted Belichick. The Patriots are preparing for another Super Bowl run. Brady is outwardly healthy and once again is a main reason they’re in that position again. He’s also the reason they might want to truly savor it this time around.

Read more on the NFL:

Steelers’ Ryan Shazier regains feeling in legs, while Todd Haley has ‘shattered’ pelvis

These X-factors could determine which NFL teams win on wild-card weekend

The Jaguars and Bills are having a Twitter fight about tickets

NFL wild-card playoff picks and Super Bowl odds: Jaguars and Saints win easily

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Read Again https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/01/05/tom-bradys-fanatical-aversion-to-injuries-could-be-the-patriots-fatal-flaw-espn-report-says/

Bagikan Berita Ini