Within the Tampa media, there’s a distinct nothing to see here vibe when it comes to the possibility that Tom Brady had a hand in the resignation of coach Bruce Arians. (Indeed, some naively regard Brady’s presence at Thursday’s press conference that everything is both hunky and dory between Brady and Bruce.)
Within the Boston media, a clear sense of Brady fatigue is emerging. It’s exacerbated by their perception that Brady ordered (or at least discreetly requested) the Code Red. A pair of Boston Globe columnists are now giving Brady the business regarding whether Brady took an it’s not personal, strictly business approach to his now-former head coach.
Dan Shaughnessy had this to say, in an item questioning why so many people still root for Brady: “Why do so many folks cover for Tom? Watching the obtuse ESPN gang ignore Tom’s fingerprints on Arians’s cold body (I think I saw an Arians chalk outline on the pavement outside Raymond James Stadium) made my head explode.”
Former Patriots G.M. Upton Bell shared his views on the TB-BA drama with Shaughnessy. “This whole Arians thing was Tom Brady-orchestrated,” Bell said. “I don’t particularly like it, but he’s running the show. [Don] Shula and [Tom] Landry and those guys used to tell me, ‘A player is just a player, but I’m the coach.’ No more.”
No more making excuses for Brady in Boston. Ben Volin of the Globe recently wrote a similar item. He contends that Brady “in recent years has become more assertive about controlling his career after years of subservience to the Patriots.” Added Volin, “It seems pretty clear to me that Brady either explicitly told the Glazers that he couldn’t play for Arians anymore, or the Glazers took the hint. Either way, Brady won.”
Reasonable minds will differ on whether Arians wandered away or walked the plank. And there’s enough evidence to support either conclusion. Some choose to believe Brady is blameless. Others choose to believe Brady got what he wanted.
Either way, it’s unprecedented to have a franchise quarterback end a 40-day retirement and then, 17 days later, have his head coach leave with barely a hint of disappointment or dismay from the player who had just ended his temporary respite from the game.
In a sport where there’s always something else going on behind the scenes, there’s one hell of story to be eventually told as to what really happened in two years of the personal friendship and professional coexistence of Tom Bray and Bruce Arians.