FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Lets temper some of that enthusiasm about Tom Brady picking up where he left off at the end of the '07 season and being the best QB in the NFL once again; medical science has proven in the past that is highly unlikely. Tom had his knee shredded in game 1 of the '08 season and after that came multiple surgeries to repair the ligaments and the knee and worst of all (at least from a Patriot fans point of view) Brady missed the entire '08 season due to the injury

Now Tom 'Terrific' had a historic MVP season in '07 and he might have been on his way to duplicating that in '08 (although highly unlikely, Brady was on another planet that season, everything he threw up went for a TD that year) but his season never got going. But now we're on the brink of the '09 season and Tom has declared himself fit and ready to go after major surgery less than a year ago and he has the whole NFL Nation (TV/Radio analyst, most fans, etc) thinking he's going to pick up where he left off.....I don't think so!

The more realistic expectations NFL fans and random non-football fans who think Tom is 'sexy-cute' and very lucky to be married to a supermodel, should be of a modest variety. Although its not written in any book, its commonly known that most professional sports players who come back from ACL injuries need one full season before they get back to the comfortablility field-zone they had before the injury. Which means Tom Brady won't be all the way back to his normal productivity until opening night 2010 season

So if your watching Brady and the Pats this year don't be surprised to see a overall record of 10-6 (11-5 at best, Pats might win the AFC East by default...the rest of the division is below avg.) because of what I believe will be consistent inconsistent play from TB! He won't be able to move around as much because of the brace he's going to have to wear during the game which means he will be taking more sacks, which also means more of a physical pounding that will make his knee injury 'comeback' more tedious. If you want to see the real Tom Brady wait about a year but who knows what the Patriot overall team will look like at that point(there harboring a lot of Over-30 vets who are on their way out), Brady might be wise to take his bum knee and move on to another team-another town by then, teams like the Vikings-Panthers-Raiders I'm sure will still be in the market for a Franchise QB...(Brady's current contract will end at end of '10 season)