While a 2-2 record is hardly considered a “freefall,” there’s no question that the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady are struggling as they move on to Cincinnati this week. However, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said this morning that there may be some serious issues between Brady and the coaching staff.
On Sunday NFL Countdown, Mortensen said that “Brady is uncomfortable with the personnel and coaching changes, the consequences have led to tensions between Brady and the coaching staff,” and also that “Brady's input into gameplans, personnel packages, formations, pre-snap adjustments [has been] significantly diminished.”
The other issue, of course, is that the Patriots’ wide receivers are an absolute joke. Apart from Julian Edelman and Deion Branch, they have yet to draft a receiver who has made a lasting impact in the Belichick Era. Couple that with the fact that their fearsome tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski (always injured) and Aaron Hernandez (in prison because he is allegedly a murdering psychopath) no longer exists, and Brady does not exactly have a lot of weapons.
With the Patriots playing a critical game tonight at home against the Bengals, a loss would do nothing to quiet the dissent surrounding the team. A win, on the other hand, would likely make this troubling report a distant memory.
[via CBS Sports]
