With Brady Back, Patriots Have High Expectations

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Aug 20, 2009

With Brady Back, Patriots Have High Expectations You wouldn't know it by the weather or the oppressive humidity, but football season is just around the corner. And New England fans may be among the NFL's most excited and anxious.

Sure, each team begins every new season with a clean slate and the opportunity to prove themselves (except for maybe the Raiders, who are just begging for their own reality show), but here in New England, Patriots fans have been in a state of arrested development for the better part of a year. When quarterback Tom Brady went down in the first game of last season with a season-ending left knee injury courtesy of Kansas City's Bernard Pollard, all hopes of eradicating the terrible taste in our mouths from the 2007 Super Bowl loss were put on hold.

True, backup Matt Cassel stepped up and ably performed the quarterbacking duties, leading the team to the edge of the playoffs – which is more than most of us would have anticipated from a quarterback who hadn't started a game since high school – but New England had the feel of running out the clock for the majority of the season. 

Now the season begins again, and Tom Brady is back.

Those of us who even admit the 2007 Super Bowl happened (many months of therapy, I assure you), have been waiting for revenge for a good, long while. Last season's holding pattern only served to ramp up our hunger for more winning.

We've become a bit spoiled around these parts lately with regards to our football team, but the embarrassment of riches hasn't made us want it any less. If anything, we've become even more wrapped up in the team's fortunes as the Patriots' success has made them a target for all opponents; media, fans and players alike. Winning validates our passion, somehow. If we win, we don't care what the detractors have to say.

But in the middle of it all is Brady. Granted, the success of Matt Cassel might have done more to highlight the diabolically genius football mind of Bill Belichick, but those of us still committed to watching the team week after week couldn't help but feel nostalgic for Brady. Especially because – since Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001 – we'd watched him develop from a system quarterback, strictly following instructions, to an intelligent, athletic and capable playcaller in his own right.

And then they gave him Randy Moss.

Those who doubted that Brady was capable of throwing the long ball were quickly silenced. People who claimed he was a terrible fantasy quarterback were proven wrong. And those who thought the Patriots were insane for taking on noted head case Moss shut up in record time as they watched the records fall. As fans, we were positively giddy with our new quarterback/receiving tandem that set records, seemingly weekly.

Then the Super Bowl happened, Eli Manning somehow escaped tackle after tackle, David Tyree pulled down that miraculous one-handed catch, and the Patriots' perfect season went up in smoke. And we've been waiting ever since to make things right.

To say that Patriots fans are extremely anxious for the 2009 season is perhaps understating things a bit. We've been trying to hold ourselves and our expectations in check for a year now, and it's nearly time to see Bill Belichick's master plan enacted.

There are personnel changes — as there always are when old seasons end and new ones begin. Though this season seems to have more changes than usual as the Patriots – in addition to losing Cassel, linebacker (and touchdown-catch specialist) Mike Vrabel, special teams captain Larry Izzo and safety Rodney Harrison — also say goodbye to former vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli and former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The team, accustomed to dealing with changes on the field, now has to work with adjustments in the front office as well. But if we've learned anything as fans since 2001, it's that we should trust in Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

The team, of course, would never publicly admit that they're especially thirsty this season or that any of Tom Brady's touchdown passes will mean more than normal. They will claim, as is standard in Belichickian parlance, that they take each game one week at a time. But you need look no further than Brady's volatile reaction to an interception he threw in the first preseason game to know how he feels.

This season is special. This season is important. This is about more than winning football games for Tom Brady. This is about proving that no matter how many supermodels he marries or how many Details magazine covers he shoots, he can come back from a devastating injury and regain his title as one of the best quarterbacks of all time.

It remains to be seen, of course, if Brady is fully recovered. Patriots fans will no doubt be collectively holding their breath every time a pass rush comes his way. And we're smart enough to know that oftentimes the mental blocks regarding an injury are greater than the physical ones. We don't know yet if Brady will be fearless. We can only hope. But this season means a lot for the fans as well.

Accustomed to being a football powerhouse for the past decade (after years and years of serving as the butt of the jokes around the NFL), the Patriots have established themselves around the league as one of the teams to beat. Along with the Steelers, Colts and Giants, the Patriots have become a team that you should never count out. They proved it last season in the absence of their franchise player, and as this season begins, all eyes turn to Foxborough to see what Brady can still do.

So while NFL seasons are largely unpredictable entities – just ask Eagles or Vikings fans – waiting for the season to begin is perhaps the most difficult part. It may seem foolish to wish the summer away, but we've been waiting long enough in New England. Bring on the football.

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