Not Going Anywhere

11.27.2008 1:37AM

To Trade Brady, or Not To Trade Brady
Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon, ESPN commentators think Pats should trade Brady
Written by: Boston Sports SID

Before reading this blog please take a minute to partake in brief game of Jeopardy. Please answer in the form of a question: (The answer will be at the end of the post.)
The single, stupid, idiotic, dumbest idea ever proposed by a national media conglomerate.

Bill Belichick has made bold moves in the past, such as trading Drew Bledsoe, releasing Lawyer Milloy as well as letting Ty Law, Adam Vinatieri and Asante Samuel walk when they reached their free agent years. But there is one thing that Belichick does not do. He does not make moves based on whim. Every decision the Patriots make is carefully calculated and bounced off other members of the Patriots staff to assure himself it is what is best for the football team. So to think Belichick would even consider the option of trading Tom Brady, as a big time media conglomerate brought up, is ridiculous.

Many national football commentators and fans outside New England will point to Bledsoe’s week two injury against the Jets in 2001 is what led to the emergence of Brady. Now after Brady went down with his ACL tear in week one, this might be the emergence of Matt Cassel?

Well here is the flaw in their argument. How did the Patriots do with Bledsoe at quarterback? They made it to the Super Bowl in 1996-97 against the Green Bay Packers and lost. With the Brady, the Pats became the first dynasty of the new millennium winning three championships in four years and were minutes away from winning their fourth last year. Plus Bledsoe was at the tail end of his career whereas Brady is still in the prime of his and at least five years left in his career.

To think that Belichick is going change his M.O. just so he can sooth his ego, as some commentators think, is absolutely absurd. Belichick is a CEO and like any CEO of a highly successful multi-national, million dollar corporation, he is going to do what is best for the company. Does he think he can win without Brady? Probably but does that mean he is going to drop the guy who brought him three championship rings and has potential for more?

Yes Brady is coming off a nasty ACL injury but people are making it sound like he contracted gangrene and had his left leg amputated. As of today, there has been a recent report from the quarterback himself telling Boston’s ABC affiliate on Tuesday, he is doing well in his recovery from surgery as well as a staph infection. The television station also noted that Brady appeared to be walking without a limp. This is all fans and media have to go because we know the Patriots treat injuries like state secrets. (Maybe the CIA should hire Belichick for their covert operations?)

What is getting the fans and commentators worked up, is the uncertainty of the future and the question of where is Brady going to be in eight months. But you know what? Brady does not have report to training camp until the end of July. It is not like July is going to come tomorrow. It is eight months away. Eight months is a long time in the sporting world. Eight months is two months short of many internships. Eight months is a baseball season that includes both Spring Training and the post-season. Many things can and will happen between now and the time Brady reports to camp. The future is always uncertain. When it is certain, people tend to call it the past.

Things always have a way of working out. Remember back to Spring Training 2006? The Red Sox had seven starters on their roster heading into Spring Training and they figured seven was too much so they traded Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati for what they thought was young power hitter in Wily Mo Pena. Well as the season progressed and Matt Clement landed on the disabled list, Josh Beckett was having a hard time adjusting to the American League and David Wells was David Wells. They ended up finishing the season in third place behind the Yankees and Blue Jays with four-A guys making the starts in August and September. The Sox could have definitely used Arroyo at the tail end of 2006. But they learned that you can never have enough pitching because even if you have 20 starting pitchers in spring training, things always have a way of working out.

It is no different than what the Patriots are going through right now. What we need right now is a Rosevelt Colvin “calm down.” The Pats will have bigger questions in the off-season, mainly improving the secondary by stacking the deck with the defensive backs as well as re-signing nose tackle Vince Wilfork. The quarterback comes in third when it comes to the needs of the team.

Eight months is along way away and things have ways of working themselves out.

-- BOSTON SPORTS SID

ANSWER TO THE JEOPARDY QUESTION is:
Should the Patriots trade star quarterback Tom Brady?