Troubled trio?
Pats insist no rift among Brady, Belichick and Kraft
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — On the field, the New England Patriots are right where they want to be heading into the postseason as they aim for a second straight Super Bowl title that would be their third in four seasons and sixth overall.
As the AFC’s top seed and the owners of a first-round bye, the Patriots (13-3) will rest this weekend as the playoffs begin. But as they prepare to begin their latest run, their biggest opponent might be the perception of a fracturing relationship between arguably the franchise’s three most important pieces.
On Friday, the Patriots dismissed as “flat-out inaccurate” a report suggesting a rift involving owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and veteran quarterback Tom Brady. The three released a joint statement hours after the publication of an ESPN story that, citing undisclosed sources, detailed an array of tension.
The report highlighted purported disputes concerning Brady’s personal body coach, Alex Guerrero, in medical affairs involving New England players. Also mentioned is a supposed difference between Kraft and Belichick over the decision to trade backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, as well as an implication Brady has been disappointed by a lack of praise from Belichick this season.
The statement said the three have had a “very good and productive working relationship” for 18 years, and they regret having to “respond to these fallacies.”
Brady and Belichick both eschewed questions last month about a chasm between Belichick and Guerrero. Belichick wouldn’t address the validity of a Boston Globe report that Guerrero had been banned from the sideline or travelling on the team plane, but he said “there are different relationships, different situations with dozens of other people.”
Last month, Brady took issue with a reporter who asked whether the quarterback and Belichick had talked about an adjustment to Guerrero’s access to the team.
“I have a lot of conversations with him. Those are private between he and I, and I don’t think anyone knows what we talk about,” Brady said then. “Certainly I’ve never talked about it. He’s never talked about it.”
Despite the reported off-the-field concerns, the Patriots have continued to thrive on it. Even after losing receiver Julian Edelman in the preseason to a knee injury and linebacker Dont’a Hightower in October to a season-ending pectoral injury, they enter the playoffs with the NFL’s top-ranked offense and a defense that allowed an average of just 18.5 points per game in the regular season.
Brady is also an MVP candidate, and he passed Brett Favre for the most wins in one season for a quarterback after turning 40 years old. Yet there are questions about Brady’s durability heading in his 15th postseason. He threw for a league-leading 4,577 passing yards and 32 touchdowns during the regular season, but he also got hit a lot more than he did last season (32 sacks in 2017 after taking just 15 in 2016).
It didn’t stop the Patriots from averaging 28.6 points. And certainly having a healthy Rob Gronkowski, who missed last year’s playoffs but had 69 catches for 1,084 yards this season, has given the Patriots a huge lift. Offseason addition Brandin Cooks (65 receptions for 1,082 yards) is another plus.
With Brady already minus a favorite target in Edelman, receiver Chris Hogan (shoulder) and running backs Rex Burkhead (knee), Mike Gillislee (knee) and James White (ankle) have all dealt with injuries down the stretch.
And Brady himself showed some of his first flecks of football mortality over the final four games. He had four of his eight interceptions during that stretch, and his passer rating dipped to 59.5 in a 27-20 loss at Miami.
Brady threw just two interceptions in 2016 and had a passer rating below 89 only once. But he also had the unexpected benefit of resting for four games at the start of the season because of his “Deflategate” suspension.
Whether related or not, it was also during the final six games of this season that Brady began dealing with both Achilles’ tendon and left shoulder problems. This week, Brady said his health is “good.”
“I mean, I’m hoping next week I’ll feel just great and be 100 percent ready to go,” he said. “So I’m excited for that.”
Brady said his mind hasn’t been far from the football field despite having no opponent to prepare for yet.
“I think it’s just trying to stay sharp. You know, it’s still football season, so it’s not a week off at all,” Brady said Thursday. “We’re trying to stay sharp and we’ve worked hard to get to this point, but there’s still a lot more to go. You know, we’re still writing our story, and hopefully we write a good one.”