Columnists, Sports

Instant Replay: Brady, Garoppolo, Belichick and Father Time

Is Tom Brady as good as people think he is, or has he just gotten lucky?PHOTO COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

If you haven’t read ESPN’s attempted exposé on Tom Brady and his sustained peak performance, well, then, you should. Or maybe you shouldn’t, since the whole thing is a mock of Brady’s inevitable aging, Belichick’s cold ruthlessness, and Garoppolo’s mysterious trade, and arrives at no conclusion other than, yeah, maybe Brady can make it to 45. Or maybe he can’t.

ESPN, let me stop you there. Everyone is skeptical of Brady, that’s no surprise. Hell, even Patriots fans are skeptical of Brady. I’ve touched on this in articles before, touched on how when Brady goes down, Gillette goes silent and waits with bated breath for him to get up again. We’re all afraid that he’s going to tear an ACL, or mess up his neck and back Peyton Manning style. Or, even worse, we’re all afraid he just won’t be good anymore, and will get traded in for a younger, newer model.

But wait. That was before the seemingly out-of-nowhere Garoppolo trade happened. Now, Belichick seems to be saying that he’s making an exception to his usual trade-happy antics for Brady to remain a part of the team — which means he has faith in his TB12 method.

But ESPN doesn’t have faith in the TB12 method. They only have faith in the fact that Brady has been one lucky SOB in his career.

I won’t sit here and pretend that lucky things haven’t happened to Brady. It was pretty lucky that Drew Bledsoe went down when he did, right in time for Brady to swoop in and snag that QB1 position. It was pretty lucky that he’s been constantly supported by great receivers, coaching staff and an owner that’s willing to fight for him. It’s pretty lucky that Seattle didn’t hand-off the ball to Marshawn Lynch, which may have resulted in a Patriots Super Bowl loss. And Julian Edelman’s catch last year is about as lucky as it gets.

But everything Brady has done to put himself into those situations, it’s not luck. It’s patience and skill and struggle.
I was quick to point out the hilarity and ridiculousness of the TB12 method book in one of my earlier columns this season. Tom Brady is not a god, and it is absurd for him to believe that his $200 book will be the new “athlete’s bible” and forever change the way that athletes’ bodies are understood.

But, he is still here. And not even a bad Seattle coaching call, a wonky Edelman catch or an unlucky four-game suspension can take responsibility for that.

It’s not luck and it’s not the TB12 method that got Brady here. It’s his own stubborn, cocky self that has kept him mentally ready to keep proving everyone wrong. Until Brady gives up in his mind, his body won’t fail him. No diet, pliability training and supposed absence of concussions can keep up Brady’s scrappy will to fight.

Garoppolo is gone. The man that the franchise has been preparing to take over for Brady is gone. The three years that Belichick put into Garoppolo are for nought, and all that wisdom collected from sideline strategizing and clipboard holding will serve him well with the 49ers. But, it took three years to get him ready to be a starter for another team, which means they’ve got to rebuild another QB2 again from scratch to get him ready to start after Brady. This will take years. Which means, Brady’s arrogance has convinced more than just himself that he’s in it for the long-run — it’s convinced the franchise, too.

Brady, in his middle-aged, five-ring glory, is doing more than just surpassing people’s expectations. He’s laughing at their expectations, and then blowing them out of the water. Whether he sold his soul to Father Time or it really just is the TB12 method and a sprinkle of luck is unsure. But one thing can be confirmed after this week’s trading events: Garoppolo is not the future of the Patriots. Brady is.

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