Broncos could be the ones left crying
TEAMMATES DEFEND BRADY AS A WINNER, NOT A WHINER
He has been depicted as a whiner in Denver and photoshopped as a teary-eyed baby in diapers on the splashy back pages of the New York tabloids.
But if the outside world is attempting to rattle Tom Brady by portraying him as an infant who likes to play with rattles, well, it isn’t working.
Buoyed by comments from Broncos defenders Antonio Smith and Malik Jackson suggesting Brady complains to officials more than any other player in the NFL, both the New York Daily News and New York Post Wednesday ran doctored images of Brady crying while wearing a newborn’s clothing.
“TOM BABY!” screamed the Post headline.
“CRYBRADY” roared the back page of the Daily News.
It’s official: the pre- game show leading up to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Broncos and Patriots has started in earnest.
Asked about his impressions of being roasted by the Big Apple newspapers, Brady flashed his trademark smile — the kind that says: “You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?”
To his credit, he did. Sort of. “No. I haven’t seen any,” Brady said of the New York tabs.
OK then, what about the allegations from Smith to the Colorado Gazette, which asked the Broncos lineman if Brady is a crybaby?
“That would be an accurate statement. I’ ve never seen any quarterback look to the referee right after he gets sacked more than Brady,” Smith told the publication. “Every time he gets sacked, he looks at the ref like ‘ You see him sack me? Was that supposed to happen? He did it a little hard. Please throw a 15- yard penalty on him. Get him fined.’” Smith wasn’t done. “With Brady, he’s a great competitor,” Smith t old the Gazette. “You know it’s coming. He’s going to cry about getting it, but he’s going to take a hit and keep going.”
Does the Patriots quarterback, in fact, work the refs continuously?
“I’m not sure,” Brady replied Wednesday. “I’m not sure what the other quarterbacks do.
“If the refs want to throw the flag, I love when they throw flags on the defenders, absolutely. It advances our team, so that’s just part of football.”
Talk about turning a potential controversy into a glass-half-full situation. Such is the Patriot Way. Leave the bulletin board material to the opposition. For the Patriots, their talking will be done on the scoreboard. At least that’s the way coach Bill Belichick preaches it.
When queried a bout some of the verbal jabs being aimed at his team from Denver, Belichick was his usual dismissive self.
“We’re focused on the Denver Broncos in the game. All the rest of it is a bunch of hot air,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the Patriots’ locker- room, wide receiver Brandon LaFell summed up the feelings of pretty much the entire New England team.
“I don’t think those type of things get under our skin,” LaFell said. “I just think it motivates us to make more plays for our quarterback.
“I don’t think Tom is a crybaby. I don’t think Tom is a whiner. I think Tom is a winner.”
To that end, you have to wonder why the Broncos would even consider poking the bear — in this case, Brady.
Because when Tom Brady is pissed, he is motivated.
And when Tom Brady is motivated, it’s bad news for the opposition.
Brady finished the 2015 season with 34 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions for a quarterback rating of 102.2, his best in four years.
What helped ignite such a successful season? Look no further than Deflategate.
Whether you think he’s guilty of knowing what was going on concerning the amount of air being added and/or let out of footballs last year, it’s obvious that he is enraged that there are those who have attempted, rightly or wrongly, to tarnish his image because of it.
As a result, with every touchdown pass, with every dominant victory, with every shredding of an opposing defence, Tom Brady is symbolically flipping the finger to the football world and all the accompanying doubters without ever actually having to make that obscene gesture.
It’s one thing for Brady to be ridiculed in New York. Doing that has been a national sport in the Big Apple for years.
But for the Broncos to be calling him names — even though there is some validity to their claims — could end up being a bad decision for the hosts come Sunday in Denver.
Because if Tom Brady has his way, it will be the Broncos doing the crying when all is said and done.