This morning New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi announced his retirement. Tedy played all thirteen of his NFL seasons in New England, winning 5 AFC championships and 3 Super Bowls. Bruschi has been the strength behind the Patriots defense as far back as I can remember while being a fan. Tedy Bruschi also defines the Patriots as a team, being named the comeback player of the year in 2005 after suffering a stroke and returning to the field eight months later. Tedy Bruschi epitomizes heart, determination and loyalty. Bruschi is more than just a linebacker for the Patriots, he is a household name and face all over New England. Tedy will be missed in more ways than he knows it.
Tedy Bruschi was never known as the best linebacker in the NFL, heck, sometimes he wasn’t the best linebacker on the Patriots. Tedy somehow just had a nose for the ball and a knack for making plays. Bruschi wasn’t the most athletic player in the world either, but had no fear in leaving his feet to break up a pass or spinning around an end to make a tackle. Tedy Bruschi is and was a great player for the Patriots and we are all very saddened with his retirement. Hopefully Bruschi will come back at some point and coach up some of the younger linebackers.
Patriots Games
Tedy Bruschi had spent much of this preseason with the second team and age was beginning to rear it’s ugly head. Bruschi isn’t the kind of player that the Patriots would cut and he’s also not the kind of player that would play anywhere else either. Tedy was one of the first players in New England to take more than a hometown discount and actually take a pay cut in order to keep the talent around him on the team, resulting in a domino effect for a few years of all New England players playing for cheaper money to win championships with a great team.
The New England Patriots aren’t going to dwell on this or stew about it like I am, making the question, what’s next? With a solid starter in second year linebacker Jerod Mayo, maybe the retirement of Tedy Bruschi could free up the money that New England will need in order to sign both Richard Seymour and Vince Wilfork to new deals and keep them on the defense, leaving for less worries at the end of the season and the 2010 draft. If more depth at the position is necessary, do the New England Patriots go out and sign Junior Seau for another season to play back up. The list of questions and things to do could go on for hours, but for now, I’m going to dwell some more and think about everything that Tedy Bruschi did for this franchise before he decided to retire.
Thanks to patriotworld for the picture of Tedy Bruschi.
I am so going to miss Tedy. What he brought to the team can not be measured in sacks or TDs or interceptions. He was the heart and soul of the team. He cheered everyone on and made the team better. I will miss him. All Patriots fan will.
Absolutely right. He made players around him better, outside linebackers, defensive lineman, I mean, the defensive backs were kind of suspect last year, but in his 13 years players around him played at a higher level because he demanded it. That’s what a captain is made of.
well done Josh.. Nice tribute to #54. He deserves it.. Like Belichick said, to go from a college D-Lineman and become one hell of a NFL middle linebacker like he did, is very impressive and doesn’t happen much.
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