This past week something happened that stopped me in my tracks when I heard it. It was news so amazing and outstanding that I had to double check to make sure that it was not a joke from the Onion Sports Network. It in fact was true, our very own "Golden Boy" was back on the field throwing passes for the New England Patriots and starting his journey to play in the 2009 NFL season. Tom Brady is back!
Brady Returns to Patriots Practice
It's the first time that Brady has been on the field to practice football since undergoing surgery on October 6th. This news is important for a few reasons, one is that the Patriots traded Matt Cassel to the Kansas City Chiefs.
That leaves New England with Kevin O'Connel as a back up and no veteran on the depth chart at the quarterback position. By having Brady on the field practicing there has to be little to no pain in his surgically repaired knee and he feels he will be ready to play when the Patriots open the season against the Buffalo Bills.
In the June 1st issue of Sports Illustrated, Tom Brady not only graces the cover, he also says some passionate, inspiring things to get Patriots fans excited:
I want to play another 10 years. [I'm] as confident as anyone could be that I'll be ready to play, back to playing normally, when the season starts. I've done everything I could to push myself, sometimes too hard. Right now, I'm doing everything. Literally everything. There's nothing I can't do.
High Hopes
The hopes are high this season with Tom coming back. There are some possibilities of the offense returning to the form and level of execution they had in the 2007 season. All that is contingent on how well Brady's knee holds up under the stress of a game and a season. Wes Welker seems to think that won't be an issue at all:
He looks like the same slow guy he was before. Just wait, you'll see. He's the same guy.
An entire nation of fans is anxiously waiting for this season to get underway and we are hoping that Tom Brady will be able to step back in and run the New England Patriots offense. It will feel like all of this was just a collective dream and the 2008 season never really happened at all. We hope that's how this season goes.
Thanks to n8wood for the photo of Tom Brady.
I’m so excited for Tom Brady to be back at the helm for the Pats this season! 3 superbowls, playoff appearances year after year, one of the most explosive offenses in the game and all we need is Brady to be back in there taking control.
As long as the defense steps up, there’s no doubt New England will be back in the Super Bowl.
What we really need is for our defense to return to form. The three super bowls we won where when we had a kick-ass, bend but don’t break defense. The year we had a kick-ass offense and a good but not great defense we lost the Super Bowl and didn’t put up more than two TDs.
Great to have Brady back and all but it doesn’t matter how many points the offense puts up if the defense can’t shut down other teams.
That, and Brady and Bellichick need to stop playing Madden videogame football on the actual football field.
I wouldn’t say our superbowl defenses were bend but don’t break. I would say the year we lost to the Giants we were bend but don’t break.
The three superbowls the Patriots won were attack style defenses that dictated to the offense what they were going to be able to do, not the other way around.
I’m sure with the right personnel, Bellichick will go back to that attack style defense with an influx of new, younger linebackers and secondary defenders.
I think the confidence in the offense will be better having Tom Brady back. The defense had to rely too many times on making stops because there was less confidence in the offense being able to score.
Now possibly the fear from opposing defenses might return as well. The threat is there to go long again and the entire playbook will be back open and they might be able to spread the field again and get Welker back into the offense a little bit more.
Time will tell and it all depends on the new guys on defense learning the system and on Brady’s knee.
Good final point Matt. I thyink we’re all caught up in the fact that Brady is making his return that we really haven’t thought about whether or not his knee will hold up the same as in the past over a 16 game season and possible post season.
I keep my thoughts on the up and up, but I also have to keep the bad thoughts in mind as well.
Yes, Welker is a crucial part of the offense. The real reason the Pats lost Super Bowl 42 was because Brady did not throw to Welker enough. He was open for 10-15 yards constantly but Brady kept trying to go deep instead of taking a few yards at a time with Wes
That first superbowl against the Rams was a definite “classic” bend but don’t break defense.. You’re right on that one Adam.. No doubt, all year long. That has been and forever will be Belichick’s forte and formula if you ask me.. He doesn’t really value the cornerback position. He values linebackers and he can stack up his best linebackers inside the redzone to make the biggest plays of the game..Move it on the pats between the 20′s and shut down in the redzone. Love Brady, he’s the man but I agree with you on the comments about the D.
Exactly Chuck. How many goal line stops did we see during the Pats Super Bowl runs? Heck, how many did we see against just the Colts (seems like a lot)?
I love(d) that about our defense. We had the attitude that we didn’t care what the opposing offense did between the 20′s because once they hit the red zone they’d face the stone wall that was our defense. Made for some truly intense moments for the Pats fans and football fans in general. Brady is great but without that defense we’d have won no championships.
or Vinatieri!