More E-mail Banter!

Isn’t it crazy how fast things can change in the world of professional sports? Last Sunday it looked like Tom Brady was at least a month away from his old self, overthrowing everybody and missing reads he normally dominates. Yesterday? Well lets just say Mr. Brady is back in contention for the title of best quarterback in the world.

Mike and Jeremy spoke on this, as well as the NFL’s trade deadline in our latest e-mail banter column.

1) Do you expect the Patriots to make a trade before tomorrow’s deadline?  If yes, who do they deal, what do they try and acquire?

J: The NFL trading deadline is often just like the Bubble Boy incident: a ton of press without any real results that shake anything up.  This year, however, the Pats do seem to be in a position where a deal makes sense.

Galloway and Brady never even came close to clicking and often reminded fans of a disgruntled couple.  They’ve gone through the “Daddy’s sleeping on the uncomfortable living room couch because he has a bad back” phase and are right now playing out the “trial/separation” stage before the big divorce.  Often these divorces come in the off season, but this year the Pats have to look into shipping Galloway out now. He seems to still have talent and speed, marketable attributes at least, but he was never where Brady thought he’d be and quickly provided more headaches than catches.  Will he come back to Foxborough over Thanksgiving with a hot, platinum-blonde draped on his arm?  Only time will tell.

Adalius is a different story.  Before this week I hadn’t heard a whiff about him being a healthy scratch, or that he was any kind of problem.  I’m still mystified as to what happened; as usual Belichick and Co. aren’t opening up.  There almost certainly would be a market for Thomas’ skills.  The Dark Lord of the Syth was very clear in stating that Thomas was healthy and that he wasn’t scratched for a personal matter, so Adalius must have needed some kind of attitude readjustment.

As always with the Pats, it depends on what they could get in return.  After already trading for the Raiders’ 2010 first-rounder, it’d be hard to understand shipping Thomas off for draft picks; I would think the Pats would want to receive some kind of instant impact.

So, in short, I don’t expect much action before tomorrow’s trade deadline, but I wouldn’t be shocked if anything were to go down.

M: I wholeheartedly agree.  The NFL trade deadline is hands down the worst in professional sports; I guarantee most fans don’t even know it’s come already. I’ve been down on Adalius Thomas for a while now and his contract could be one of the worst Bill Belichick has ever allowed, but trading him could be a problem.  He’s been to the Pro Bowl a couple times, is no schlub and is on a team that’s relatively weak at the outside linebacker position.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t understand the NFL’s trading policy as well as baseball and basketball, (with salary cap structure and all those what have you’s) but I wouldn’t mind a Deion Branch for Adalius Thomas straight up swap.  I’ve wanted him back on the Pats for years and he’d be another talented deep threat that Brady wouldn’t have to waste time connecting with.  God that’d be legendary.  Thoughts on the T.O. rumors? How many appendages would you cut off if that happened?

J: One. It begins with a P and ends with an S.

M: Yea that question shouldn’t have even been brought up in this forum, I apologize.  So yea, I’m thinking the Pats simply replaced Thomas with Seau, moved Guyton to outside linebacker and called it a day.  Pretty ridiculous if you ask me but whatever works works.

J: Haha I know! I mean, if people think Brett Favre is going to break down, there is NO way Seau could last through the playoffs.  Doesn’t really seem to make sense to me, at all.    I think Guyton’s been fairly impressive though, no?  Happy about that.

And I agree, I’d love another receiver.  Branch would of course be great, especially mid-season.  Also I hear Kevin Curtis is potentially on the block in Philly, he’s talented.  But I’m pretty sure there’s a statute on the books at Foxborough town hall against having three undersized white receivers on the same team.

I’m concerned about depth at running back.  Every year the old adage rings true: can’t have enough running backs or defensive lineman, but I’m pretty sure that can’t be addressed at the deadline.

M: That’s certainly an issue (the running backs) and I’ve always said Kevin Curtis is a poor man’s Wes Welker.  No need for him.

Sammy Morris going down obviously sucks, don’t know what the deal is there, but I also liked Maroney having a little breakout performance.  Things were really clicking yesterday needless to say, and I expect him to do it again.

J: We’ve been here with Maroney before.  Do not get sucked in. Do not get sucked in!

To extend the previous analogy, and I swear I’m not having any love-life problems, he’s like the girl who was way too hot to be dating you but did anyway for some reason.  Obviously, she knew she was too hot and cheated on you.  But then, after her tearful apology, you took her back (she was sorry, and she’s hot!)

Unfortunately, she WILL cheat on you again.

2) Was yesterday’s performance by Tom Brady the most impressive of his hall of fame career?

J: Tom Brady’s career is built on the not-so-mystical attribute of clutchness, and any talk of the best of Tom Brady’s career starts and ends with team accomplishments.  He’s, literally, the master of the two-minute drill and the fourth-quarter comeback. The big game.  His hall of fame resume is built on Super Bowl championships and jaw-dropping team play, so was yesterday the best game of Tom Brady’s career? Absolutely not.

Was it a fun little romp in the snow?  Sure.  Was it great to see Brady look like his old self and the offense shake off the rust?  Of course. Was it goose-bump inspiring to see Welker, Moss, and Brady perform like they did in 2007?  Definitely.  But the best game of Tom Brady’s career?  No.  I’ll even make the case that the best game of Tom Brady’s career was one in which his stat line read: 145 yards, 1td, 0int.  Super Bowl wins: 1.

Or, how about this line:

354 yds 3 tds, a record 32 completions, Super Bowl wins: 1.

M: Yes, yes of course the Super Bowls are wonderful, but this is a guy, coming off the knee surgery and having a slightly disappointing performance last week against Denver, who came out, in the snow and set several NFL records.  Things that haven’t been done since helmets became mandatory.

The flee flicker against the wind was ridiculous. The throw across the body knowing he’d get slammed in the face the second the ball left his hand was one of the best throws I’ve ever seen.

If I were explaining Tom Brady to an eight year old Indian boy who had no idea what a Super Bowl was, this would be the first game I’d bring up to showcase his legendary status.  It was in the snow!! Five touchdowns in one quarter!! That boggles the mind.