Now that Tom Brady has led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl, many people feel he has already proven he was more important to the New England Patriots’ dynasty than Bill Belichick. Danny Amendola certainly feels the six titles his former team has won have a lot more to do with the quarterback than the head coach.
During an appearance on FS1’s “First Things First” on Monday, Amendola was asked if he believes it will be hard for Belichick to get new players to buy in without Brady in New England. The Detroit Lions receiver made it clear he believes Brady made the “Patriot Way” what it is, not Belichick.
"When you see the 'Patriot Way' in the dictionary, it’s got Tom Brady’s picture next to it. None of those coaches caught any passes. … Tom Brady is the 'Patriot Way.' That’s why he’s in the Super Bowl & the Patriots aren’t." — @DannyAmendolapic.twitter.com/XtVd0ntJPc
“Well first thing’s first, when you see ‘Patriot Way’ in the dictionary, it’s gonna have Tom Brady’s name next to it,” Amendola said. “None of those coaches threw any passes. None of those coaches caught any passes. None of those coaches made any tackles. They got guys in the right position because they watched a lot of film and spent a lot of time at the facility, but Tom Brady is the Patriot Way. That’s the reason why Tom Brady is in the Super Bowl right now and the Patriots aren’t.”
The Brady vs. Belichick debate is pretty useless. The duo won six — that’s right, SIX — Super Bowls together in New England. It’s true that NFL teams are only as good as their quarterbacks, but you need a great coach and a great QB to win that many titles. Even if Brady goes on to win a Super Bowl with the Bucs, that hardly means he would have won six without Belichick in New England.
Belichick should have several more years to prove he can win without Brady, but there’s no denying that Brady has drastically improved his legacy in his first season away from New England.
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have teamed up yet again! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.
The Detroit Lions made an effort to work with Matthew Stafford to trade him to the team of his choice, and it sounds like that is exactly what they did when they agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Lions had offers for Stafford from numerous teams. Albert Breer of The MMQB detailed many of them, and they all included some combination of high draft picks and/or starting-caliber players. As many as eight teams reached out to Detroit about Stafford and a handful made formal offers.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Stafford was solely focused on playing for the Rams. Schefter said on “Get Up!” Monday morning that it was the “lure of Sean McVay and Los Angeles that made him want to go play there.”
Stafford spent 12 seasons with the Lions. While the team fell short of expectations during that span, Stafford has played through significant injuries and been one of the toughest players in the NFL. It is no surprise Detroit accommodated his request, though the return from the Rams certainly made that easy to do.
A report on Sunday claimed Stafford was open to playing for any team except this one. In reality, it sounds like the Rams were his clear preference.
Photo: A Healthier Michigan/Flickr via cc-by-sa 2.0
Houston Texans players know they will have virtually no chance of contending in 2021 if Deshaun Watson is traded. That is not stopping them from supporting the star quarterback as he takes a stand against the organization.
Watson has informed the Texans he wants a trade, and there have been no indications that he will back down. According to Peter King of NBC Sports, some of Watson’s veteran teammates have encouraged him to stick to his guns.
“It’s gotten to the point where, I’m told, even some respected veterans on the teams have, in effect, told Watson, ‘Go ahead. Go. We love you. We don’t want you to get trapped here. You don’t owe us anything,'” King wrote in his column on Monday.
That is yet another sign of how bad things have gotten in Houston. Watson is just 25 and an MVP candidate. If his own teammates aren’t trying to convince him to work things out with the Texans, it likely means they are not comfortable defending the organization and/or want out as well.
King was also told Texans veterans supported Watson when the quarterback went to owner Cal McNair last month to inform him that “the situation in the locker room was dire.” Watson was upset when McNair did not include him in the process of hiring a general manager, but he also wanted the team to interview Robert Saleh for its head coaching vacancy. When that did not happen, Watson and his teammates became even more frustrated with ownership.
Players also do not trust executive vice president Jack Easterby, so they were bothered when the Texans decided to stick with him.
Matthew Stafford was traded from the Detroit Lions to the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night, and the star quarterback immediately had an opportunity to meet face-to-face with his new head coach after the blockbuster deal was agreed upon.
Albert Breer of The MMQB revealed in his weekly column that Stafford and his wife had dinner with McVay and his fiancee in Cabo to celebrate the trade on Saturday evening. As luck would have it, Stafford and McVay were two of several NFL players, coaches and staffers that spent the week in Mexico last week.
It would stand to reason that the Rams consulted McVay before making the trade for Stafford. They gave up two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick in addition to Jared Goff, so McVay was almost certainly enthusiastic about acquiring Stafford.
Nelson Cruz has spent nearly his entire career in the American League, but he could end up making a switch this season depending on circumstances.
Cruz, 40, is a free agent and in talks with the Minnesota Twins. But if MLB goes with a universal designated hitter for the 2021 season, Jon Heyman says the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers could have interest.
If there is a DH, Braves and possibly Dodgers are strong candidates to jump in on Nelson Cruz. Both teams love short deals with great players, even with high AAVs. Twins are still in contact and would love him back on a 1-year deal.
Cruz has been almost exclusively a DH the last four seasons. He remains a tremendous slugger and has batted .308/.394/.626 with 57 homers in 163 games over the last two years. His market would expand greatly if MLB makes that big change like they had in 2020. If not, then Cruz could be a good bet to return to the Twins.
Patrick Reed may have captured victory at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, Calif. on Sunday, but he may not have too much respect from his fellow golfers.
Reed has had similar incidents in the past, which is why he doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt anymore. Even CBS announcer Jim Nantz came close to calling out Reed.
Congratulations are in order for Kevin Love and his girlfriend, now fiancee, Kate Bock.
Both Love and Bock shared photos on their Instagram accounts on Sunday night from their engagement.
“‘Souls tend to go back to who feels like home.’
“My Fiancé. The Joy of My Life,” Love wrote as his comment on the photo.
Bock shared her comment after being proposed to for her birthday.
“Well, this was the best birthday surprise I could have ever imagined. I couldn’t be happier to have been asked to be a Love by my love. Heart bursting all day & night,” she wrote on her comment.
Before you call out Gordon for being dirty, consider that shot was right after Lowry seemed to nail him.
This possession preceded Aaron Gordon's Flagrant 1 foul on Kyle Lowry by 14 seconds. In the play below, Lowry makes contact with Gordon as Lowry positions himself for a possible defensive rebound. Gordon's knee hyperextended on the play. https://t.co/k6TbxpifzT
This is a continuation of what happened between them in the bubble in Orlando last year. Lowry took out Gordon with a hard shot in a game between their teams on Aug. 6.
Klay Thompson got involved in some drama over the weekend, and Glen Davis went a step too far in his reaction to it.
The Golden State Warriors star Thompson guested as a commentator on NBC Sports’ broadcast of the Warriors-Detroit Pistons game on Saturday. After the final buzzer, Pistons swingman Rodney McGruder went over to the Golden State bench and appeared to confront Warriors counterpart Juan Toscano-Anderson. On the live broadcast, Thompson attacked McGruder, saying that he was probably going to be out of the league soon.
Klay clowned Rodney McGruder after the game: “This dude might be out the league soon, he’s probably mad about that” pic.twitter.com/2VqGzqXQ4m
Davis, the former NBA big, then got involved on Instagram. Commenting on a post about the incident, Davis wrote, “Saying s— like that, I can see why he stay hurt. Karma.”
Social media quickly rebuked Davis for the remark about Thompson.
Thompson is out for the season after tearing his right Achilles. He also missed all of last season with a torn left ACL. As for Davis, he has actually been out of the NBA since 2015. But his last stop was with the LA Clippers during an era when Thompson and the Warriors were their big rivals. Davis also has a history of taking petty shots on Instagram.
True, Thompson going after McGruder’s career during an official team broadcast was a bad look. But Davis suggesting that Thompson somehow deserved his back-to-back devastating injuries is an even worse one.
The Los Angeles Rams made it clear they no longer view Jared Goff as a franchise quarterback, which is why they traded the former No. 1 pick to Detroit on Saturday. Even before the trade occurred, Goff apparently saw some indirect signs that the Rams were no longer happy with him.
NFL.com’s Mike Silver published a column on Sunday full of information from Goff’s perspective. In the story, Silver pointed out that FOX NFL analyst Troy Aikman “routinely trashed” Goff when he and Joe Buck were assigned to call Rams games.
Aikman, for instance, was quoted as saying it “doesn’t get any uglier than that” after a Goff interception in the Rams’ Week 16 loss to Seattle.
Before a Week 12 game against New England, Aikman suggested Bill Belichick wanted to make Goff beat the Patriots, which signals Belichick felt Goff was a weakness.
"You know that Bill Belichick wants the game in Jared Goff's hands." –Troy Aikman, pregame
Aikman’s attitude about Goff was noted by many observers.
Aikman feels almost uncomfortable giving credit to Jared Goff for literally not missing a snap after popping his thumb back into place. Can’t understand his disdain for him. So bizarre.
Silver intimates that Goff felt Aikman’s negative view of Goff was due to comments Sean McVay made in private production meetings with Buck and Aikman.
Here is what Silver wrote:
“Routinely trashed this season on FOX telecasts, specifically those with Troy Aikman as the lead analyst, Goff could reasonably assume that McVay’s words about his quarterback’s play in network production meetings were far from glowing,” Silver wrote.
We have long pointed out at LBS that the things NFL TV announcers say during games are likely influenced by their conversations with coaches in the week leading up to games. The conversations are generally supposed to be off-the-record. They are used to provide background and insight that will help the announcers call games better. Those conversations are what led Buck to set things straight on Bruce Arians’ relationship with Tom Brady, for instance.
If Goff felt McVay was not speaking highly of him in meetings with Aikman, it probably wouldn’t inspire much confidence in the QB. Neither did McVay’s comments after the Rams’ season ended.
Goff is now with the Lions, while the Rams will have Matthew Stafford. What’s nice for Goff is that he will be with a team that seems excited to have him.
