Ugly Brady infection story: It’s a sign! The end is nigh! Maybe.

By Os Davis  |   Friday, October 24, 2008  |  Comments( 5 )

New England Patriots
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Well? Is anyone panicking in New England Patriots Land now? Seriously, this news on Tom Brady, what with at least an infection in his knee galloping like at least two of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Is it getting through the sangfroid?

Commentary: The portents marking the beginning of the end (of something) have been everywhere this season: Troy Brown, veteran of three Super Bowl championships, couldn’t stick and retired; recently dependable veteran Junior Seau evaporated sometime over the summer; Rodney Harrison, Patriot since 2003, is done probably forever. Mike Vrabel’s still out there, but it’s clear last season’s Pro Bowl-level performance isn’t to be duplicated in 2008.

And now this sloppy end result of surgery to the quarterback who has been the Man throughout this Patriots decade may, as widely reported, “set back his rehab,” putting a return to the field at what, midway through the 2009 season? Just as Kevin O’Connell is coming along, right?

Pardon the paranoia, but the information is all doom, gloom and thunderclouds – and that’s after the bizarre conspiracy stuff. New England Patriots Football Inc. inside source" target="_new">ESPN apparently misquoted a Patriots inside source as stating “The Patriots ... are upset because they wanted Brady's surgery done under the direction of doctors of their choosing in Boston,” instead of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, Brady's personal choice.

The organization’s official view in terse press release format, ran thusly:

Today, ESPN cited an unnamed source who supposedly expressed the feelings of the Patriots ‘organization.’ This unsubstantiated report does not represent the team's views whatsoever. We have supported Tom Brady one hundred percent from day one of this process and will continue to do so. ... Today, we reiterate our total support for Tom as he recovers from his injury.

So, um, who stated the case for the Patriot front office, an actually somewhat reasonable request from a business perhaps skeptical of the results of the clinics’ performance on the multimillion-dollar meal ticket in the first surgery.

News sources, all echoing the seminal Boston Herald reportage (here’s the reverb from the story on CelticsBlog.com, for example), state that Brady is “on a six-week course of intravenously administered antibiotics,” that “If the infection is not brought under control, the patellar tendon graft used to replace Brady's anterior cruciate ligament could become compromised,” and such a result would – here it comes – “reset the clock on his rehabilitation.”

Even if Brady does come back, will he truly ever be the same player again? And putting the timetable at mid-2009, the quarterback may see a completely different supporting cast out there. Can anyone else readily imagine a Fred Sanford-looking hobbling Brady struggling to get the Pats to a 9-7 record while Boston media whine in 2010?

Fan pulse: In the aforementioned Celtics Blog thread based on the original misquoted complaint from “the Patriots,” most C-Bloggers sided (naturally) with the organization. Contributor Yall Hate guessed correctly that the story was bogus: “The Pats are notoriously quiet about leaking anything to the media, but we are supposed to believe that in this instance, with absolutely nothing to gain from it, someone in the organization decided to come out and say they were upset with Tom. ... the notion that the pats are upset about it and leaked it to the press is laughable.”

On the blunt end of the stick, a surgeon kicks in with:

This could be the end of his career. Knee joints are rapidly destroyed in the presence of infection, especially with a foreign material present (patellar tendon graft to replace the ACL). It all depends on how rapidly they recognized it and how soon and how aggressively it was treated. Even under the best of circumstances it might not be sufficient. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ouch.

The ultimate Patriots community on PatsFans.com is naturally all over this issue, with the speculation having begun as to who’s the QB in 2009 (and ESPN gets raked over the coals again); some education on MCLs versus ACLs; and gobs of speculation on Matt Cassel.

In general, though, they’re all so cool in Patriot Nation. Or maybe they're just ...

Complacent ...?

(Cue ominous music. Sound of Gabriel's horn. Fade to black.)
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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