The Bright Side Of Tom Brady's Suspension: It Probably Won't Hurt The Patriots At All
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Yes, sports talk is once again inundated with DeflateGate takes after news dropped that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Tom Brady's request for a rehearing. Yes, it remains the most insufferable debate topic in sports history, regardless of whose side you took 18 months (!!!) ago.
But the one thing that literally everyone should agree on is that a Brady suspension is bad news for the rest of the NFL, particularly the opponents on the Patriots' schedule, and the team will once again start the season with a blistering run of decimating opponents for as long as they can.
As Patriots fans learned last season, even if Brady/Jimmy Garoppolo and the team are motivated to destroy everyone, the NFL season is ultimately a war of attrition and such barrages can't last forever. Even when the Patriots went 18-0 in 2007, they spent much of the second half of the season battling tooth and nail rather than napalming everything in their way.
But this year, you should take solace in the fact that the start to 2016 will likely be just as explosive as last season - even with Garoppolo under center. Here are just a few reasons why it may ultimately help the Patriots if Brady has to serve the four games ...
They'll get an idea of how good Garoppolo is. Brady's backup since 2014, Garoppolo has made it into 11 games but has never started and certainly has not been depended on to be the man. The Patriots need to figure out Brady's successor sooner rather than later, and forcing some real playing time from Garoppolo can only help the team in the long run. If Garoppolo is good, the team can rest easy knowing they'll have a legit quarterback for years beyond Brady - and the rest of the league will cry knowing they have to keep dealing with the Pats for another decade-plus.
Brady will be more fresh. At age 39, Brady would probably be helped by four weeks without taking hits from the barbarous defensive fronts the Patriots have to face in the first month of the season. Avoiding the likes of Chandler Jones, Calais Campbell, Marcell Dareus, J.J. Watt, Ndamukong Suh, etc. would be good for his body.
Pissed off Brady is the best Brady. Remember how Brady played at the start of the 2015 season? Or after week 4 of the 2014 season? Or the 2010 season after they traded Randy Moss? Picture that, times 100. I don't know what more Brady needs to do to prove to people that pissing him off and giving him the dreaded "bulletin-board material" is a bad idea and almost always makes him play better just to prove everyone wrong, but there are probably plenty of fans out there who aren't worried about Brady shredding their team this year. They should be, especially if he has to sit the four games.
I always laugh at the people who think every problem the Patriots face, every bit of adversity, will somehow have them reeling and send them to an 8-8 record. I'm even laughing at the people who think Garoppolo would go 1-3 or 0-4. Even if Jimmy G. looks bad, Bill Belichick won't let him kill the team and the Patriots have enough talent around him where he only needs to be mildly serviceable for the team to go 2-2. I'm expecting minimum 3-1, and would not be surprised at all at 4-0. At this point, how is anything the Patriots achieve surprising to people?
Right now, it feels like just about everyone in the country wants DeflateGate to end, one way or another. Unfortunately for the Patriots, that would mean Brady taking the four games. He might as well appeal to the Supreme Court or apply for a stay on his suspension, which could end up pushing the whole thing back yet another year, but it's a long shot that his case will ever be brought before an actual judge ever again. In light of that sobering reality, it's time to wonder how much the impending suspension will hurt the Patriots.
And the answer to that, like almost any question about this team under Belichick, is not at all.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.