Does anyone really believe that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will not play in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium?
Is there anyone who is naïve enough to think that way?
Come on!
Brady will most certainly play. If he’s breathing, then he will play. A Super Bowl berth is at stake. He’s 40 years old. Who knows how much longer he will play, or that he can play? There’s no way he’s passing on the opportunity to add another ring.
Now, is he legitimately hurt? Yes, he reportedly injured his throwing hand in practice this week when he hit the buckle on a teammate’s helmet, and it took four stitches to close what has been described as a very bloody wound.
Is that true? Is any of it true?
Who knows?
Getting specific injury information from the Patriots is about as easy as acquiring nuclear secrets, or finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, or getting Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton to kiss and make up.
Who’s the head coach of the Patriots? Yeah, it’s Bill Belichick, who was the head coach of the Browns from 1991-95. I covered him during that time. You could have tied him to a burning stake and he still wouldn’t have merely said the word “injuries,” let alone divulge any details about them as they related to his players.
He learned that from Bill Parcells, under whom he coached as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants in the 1980s. Parcells was outstanding in deflecting questions about injuries, but Belichick is even better at it. He has turned it into an art form.
One time while he was with the Browns, a team complained that Belichick wasn’t listing all of his injured players on the injury report. The following week for a game against the Oakland Raiders, Belichick listed 24 players on the injury report, including 21 who were questionable. If a player had sneezed that week, he was on that report.
The moral to this story? Don’t get into a spitting match with Belichick over injuries, especially when it applies to his quarterback, particularly when that quarterback might be the best ever at that position, and definitely when it’s in a conference championship game.
