INJURY MYSTERY LOOMS OVER AFC GAME
Brady keeping mystery alive about ailing finger
SO, there was Tom Brady on Friday, smiling coyly, intent on doing nothing to deflate the angst gripping all of New England on the eve of Sunday’s AFC Championship game against the Jaguars regarding his bloodied throwing hand that required four stitches and forced him to miss practice on Thursday.
What does he know about his thumb, and when will he know it?
Uh, Tom: How confident are you that you’ll be playing on Sunday? “We’ll see,” Brady said. Uh, Tom: Will you be on top of your game, physically capable? “We’ll see,” Brady said. Every query was met with a response that would have had Bill Belichick high-fiving his fellow five-time champion were it not for the fact that if he did, Brian Hoyer might have to quarterback the Patriots.
Who is anyone to dare suggest that the men who gave us Spygate and Deflategate could possibly think about concocting any sinister gamesmanship aimed at making the wide-eyed Jaguars wonder if thumbthing might be wrong with Tom Brady?
The hysteria over Brady caused the oddsmakers to drop the point spread from Patriots as 9-point favorites to 7.5.
Now, far be it from Belichick to prevent Brady from throwing the ball until Friday just for the sake of a hoax when he needs his G.O.A.T to be at his G.O.A.T.E.S.T.
But c’mon, did Brady really have to wear those two red gloves at his press conference and plead the fifth?
Uh, Tom: Thumbs up or thumbs down for Sunday? “We’ll see,” Brady said. Brady refused to even talk about how the injury happened during Wednesday’s practice, but it was later divulged he hit his thumb on a helmet and was gushing blood and in pain. No fracture, no ligament damage, but four stitches around the knuckle.
A source told NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport that Brady was “zinging it pretty good,” and teammates corroborated it.
Asked how Brady looked, wide receiver Danny Amendola said: “Like Tom Brady.”
On the other hand — actually, on the same hand, Pats insider and NBC Boston’s Tom Curran reported: “Brady’s right thumb bent back badly when he was smashed into by a running back. Somehow, the ball got jammed back into the webbing between his thumb and index finger and it caused a cut. ... He’s not taking snaps under center. He can take them in shotgun. He’s trying not to aggravate the thumb between now and kickoff so the reps are at a minimum.”
Belichick had been asked before practice if Brady might be a game-time decision, because, you know, 40-yearold thumbs undoubtedly take longer to heal.
“Today’s Friday,” Belichick revealed.
Besides, TB12 personal trainer Alex Guerrero is never more than a phone call away.
“Tom always tends to show up in big games,” Amendola said, “so this is a big game.”
Of course, who knows for sure whether Brady’s accuracy might suffer on a Sunday, Bloody Sunday?
“He’s a warrior,” Amendola said.
Other warrior quarterbacks have probably played with four stitches on their throwing hand, no?
“I’ve played in a lot of games with pain, so ...” Brady said. He’d prefer not to wear a glove. “It’s been a long time,” Brady said. At the end of his four-minute Belichickian Q & A, as a question began to be asked, Brady said: “He [PR man] said two questions, see ya. Thank you,” and off he went.
Thumbgate, where Thumbthing definitely happened.
And let the Jaguars believe the G.O.A.T will play as small Tom Thumb.