The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Brady, Kraft, Belichick deny report of rift among them
ESPN: Coach not happy with decision to trade Garoppolo.
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. — On the field, the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots are right where they want to be heading into the postseason.
As the AFC’s top seed and the owners of a first-round bye, the 13-3 Patriots will get to rest up during the opening weekend of the playoffs. 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.
The Patriots dismissed as “flat-out inaccurate” a report suggesting a rift involving owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady on Friday.
The three released a joint statement hours after an ESPN report, citing undisclosed sources, detailed an array of tension.
The story highlighted purported disputes concerning Brady’s personal body coach, Alex Guerrero, in player medical affairs. Also mentioned is a supposed difference between Kraft and Belichick over the decision to trade backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. The story implied Brady has taken issue with 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 eschewed questions last month about a chasm between and Belichick and Guerrero.
Belichick wouldn’t address the validity of a Boston Globe report that Guerrero had been banned from the sideline or traveling on the team plane, but said “there are different relationships, different situations with dozens of other people.”
Brady also took issue with a reporter last month 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.
Despite the reported off the field issues, the Patriots have thrived while 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 topranked offense and a defense allowing just 18.5 points per game.
Brady is also an MVP candidate and passed Brett Favre for the most wins in one season for a quarterback after turning 40 years old.
Still, there are questions about Brady’s durability heading in his 15th postseason.
He threw for a league-leading 4,577 yards passing and 32 touchdowns, but he also got hit a lot more than he did last season (32 sacks in 2017 after just 15 in 2016).
It didn’t stop the Patriots from averaging 28.6 points.