It's official. Tom Brady goes under the knife, and is done for the year, because of the injury he suffered yesterday against the Chiefs.

     I'll wait just a moment, while America goes "BWAA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!"...are you done now, America?? Thank you.

     Now, onward...

     I've seen the tape of this, and I can't see where you would call this a "dirty" play. Unfortunate, yes; "dirty", no. But that's not why I'm writing this piece.

     What cracks me up, is seeing the guy from the Chiefs who caused this injury...apologizing for it. Excuse me, but isn't the purpose to get to the QB?? (Or, to paraphrase Herman Edwards: "You play, to nail the quarterback!!!")

     Did Jim Burt apologize, when he laid the lick on Joe Montana (in a NFC playoff game) that put Joe Cool out of football for a year+??

     Did Chuck Bednarik apologize, when he laid out Frank Gifford in 1960 (fracturing Giff's skull in the process) and put him out the entire 1961 season??

     And, has Lawrence Taylor ever really apologized for snapping Joe Theismann's leg on MNF 23 years ago?? (Though I will say, to L.T.'s credit, he did motion to the Redskins bench after he did it. Even he recognized the severity of what he'd done.)

     No, no, and no.

     Oh, and 1 more: Jack Tatum never apologized for making Darryl Stingley a quadriplegic 30 years ago. (Clean hit, you'll recall, but still...)

     But let's get back to Tom Brady, shall we??

     Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but I can't help but think that this injury is some type of karmic payback for how the Patriots treated the rest of the NFL like crap last year. I doubt if the rest of the pro football world is as broken up over this as the New England region appears to be.

     (I'm only making an observation, so please, no hate mail from the Pats faithful on here.)

     Let's just say, the Pats season is screwed, and take it from there.