I don’t have inside knowledge when it comes to Tom Brady, or anything NFL-related. But I do have common sense. That’s enough I need to know that Brady forced Bruce Arians out.
Anybody who says otherwise is participating in an embarrassing spin job.
But that’s the story NFL Insiders insist on telling their millions of followers. When Arians resigned Wednesday night as head coach of the Buccaneers, they lined up to protect the affable head coach. Their story is that Arians was thinking of stepping down regardless of Brady’s status, and his return made the decision easier. Now Arians could set his friend Todd Bowles up with a Super Bowl contender. What an amazing man.
When the news broke Wednesday, Scott Van Pelt insinuated that anybody who strays from the Arians-approved narrative is a conspiracy theorist. “Because Tom Brady is involved, and because Tom Brady came back, and because Tom Brady leads to conspiracy theories, people try to connect the dots and say, ‘Ah-hah! Brady forced [Arians] out.’ What’s your sense of any and all of that?,” he asked Jeff Darlington.
The trusted NFL reporter — who broke Brady’s faux-tirement along with Adam Schefter — dished up the following word salad: “I hear it all the time myself: ‘Tom wanted Bruce out, and this is why this is happening,’” Darlington said. “I actually asked Bruce that same question, and he said it actually made things easier that [Brady] was coming back, because, like I said about the succession plan, it puts Todd Bowles in a better situation moving forward. I do believe that.”
And why does Darlington believe that tidy explanation of events? Because he wants to.
“I understand people want to make it out to be that Bruce and Tom don’t get along. I would actually argue they do have a good relationship,” he said. “Did they get after each other over this past year? Yes, 100 percent. But Tom didn’t come back under some condition that if he decided to come back, Bruce would ultimately be out. Bruce Arians was going to be the head coach as far as Tom Brady was concerned, until he wasn’t. These two things did not happen as a result of one another. And personally, I believe the explanations that I’m being given.”
There it is: “I believe the explanations that I’m being given.”
Mike Lombardi characterized the theory that Brady wanted Arians out as "nonsense."
It’s apparent Arians enjoys strong relationships with members of the NFL media. He has a breezy demeanor and seldom hesitates to give a good quote. He concluded his presser Thursday with a good-natured jab at the assembled press.
Everyone guffawed in unison.
“One other thing, it's been great working with you guys in the press. You've been fantastic,” he said. “All over the country. Alright! [Mike] Florio, you can write what you want. It's OK.”
Florio is one of the few national NFL writers who’s spitting straight on this topic. In a post Wednesday night, Florio surfaced reporting from Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times that said Brady was informed Arians was going to step down either the day he announced his return or the day after. Florio proceeded the connect the obvious dots: that tidbit strongly suggests Brady wanted a coaching change as a condition for his return.
But NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo doesn’t see it. “No, I don’t get that sense here, just based on the timeline,” he said Wednesday on NFL Network. “It sounds like this has been in discussion for at least a little bit of time. I don’t get that that was part of it. I could be wrong, but I’m just going off of what Arians says. I don’t get that sense here.”
The reported timeline says that Brady announced his return, and then Arians immediately decided to step down. How does that not align with the notion that the two events are related?
Oh yeah, that’s right. Arians did this all for Bowles.
“Bruce Arians really made a fascinating decision: Tom Brady comes back to the Bucs, and he knows they’ll be good,” tweeted Ian Rapoport. “Rather than have Todd Bowles take over a bad team or one in transition, he chooses now to pass it off. Arians made sure Bowles will coach a good team.”
If that’s true, Arians is the Mother Theresa of pro football. He willingly passed up another Super Bowl run with the greatest quarterback ever — who seemingly does most of the heavy lifting, anyway — so he could gift his long-time assistant a winner.
Maybe that’s the case. No wonder why so many respected insiders are covering for him.
Relationships are complicated. Brady and Arians might very well be the golfing buddies that Arians claims. There might not be many hard feelings, either. Arians was the third-oldest head coach in the NFL, and has dealt with multiple health issues in recent years. Maybe he doesn’t mind moving to the front office, where he’ll undoubtedly take on a less demanding role. It’s a nice landing spot.
But it seems as if there was significant tension. Even Darlington mentioned that. Linebacker Lavonte David tweeted in January the team experienced “a lot of turmoil,” and one of Brady’s former offensive linemen, Rich Ohrenberger, tweeted Brady’s relationship with Arians was “souring.”
There must be a reason why Brady abruptly retired and returned 40 days later, and it probably isn’t because he got tired of enjoying his magnificent life away from the field.
He was tired of his coach. Everyone can see that, right?
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Celtics’ vaccination word game: Where there’s deflection, there’s usually secrets. That appears to be the case with the Celtics and their vaccination word game.
While Ime Udoka said Sunday everybody would be available to play against Toronto in a playoff series, it took him a long time to get there. Here is how he answered two questions about the matter.
Answer 1: “Al is in a personal situation. We’ve got some guys who are banged up, including Rob tonight, so he won’t be going. We’ll get some other guys looked at now. Our thing is injury prevention going forward in the last eight games. Jaylen, Jayson had the flareups before tonight, second night of a back-to-back. We’ll see how they feel after the game, they’ll get checked out shortly.”
OK, but would everybody be eligible to play in a playoff game?
“Yeah. I mean, obviously Canada could change their rules, but we’re looking at our guys available to play. All our guys, if healthy, are available to play.”
Pretty circuitous. Interestingly enough, ESPN NBA Insiders have publicly questioned the vaccination status of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford all week. Writer Tim Bontemps says the Celtics declined comment on the topic.
If the Celtics face the Raptors in the first round, we’ll know who’s telling the truth soon enough.
Kraft’s salvo to Belichick: Kraft didn’t contradict Belichick’s approach when he spoke with reporters at the league meetings this week. He defended their conservative free agency strategy and built up Mac Jones. But all of that was overshadowed by his opening proclamation that he’s bothered by the Patriots’ lack of recent playoff success. Kraft raised the issue in his opening statement, not even waiting for a question.
Message sent.
Reporters back in the locker room: Granted, this note is the ultimate example of media navel-gazing, but so be it. The NFL announced this week regular media access will resume in 2022. Red Sox reporters are enjoying access to the clubhouse during Spring Training as well.
There was a well-founded fear that sports leagues would never remove Covid-based media restrictions. It’s good to be proven wrong. Fans benefit when reporters can actually interact face-to-face with players and coaches. It results in more information, and information is good.