Off the Field Issues Overshadow Upcoming Patriots’ Season

The New England Patriots open their 2018 NFL season in less than two weeks but all the focus seems to be off the field.

On Monday morning, quarterback Tom Brady was a guest on a local Boston radio show (WEEI’s Kirk and Callahan) and the question of his personal trainer, Alex Guerrero, came up again. It took a series of questions about Guerrero that led Brady to end his regularly scheduled appearance on the radio show about 5 minutes short.

This is just the second time that Brady has cut the media off when it came to Guerrero. During his post practice session with the media after training camp in July, Brady walked out when his trainer’s name was brought up. *This time, however, it was at the expense of wide receiver Julian Edelman’s 4 game suspension due to PED use. Edelman has been a regular at the TB12 training facility as he recovered from a torn ACL and he trained with Guerrero.

It is obvious that these questions about Guerrero bother Brady to a point that he is cutting short his obligations to the media. It is more than apparent that there are some deep rooted issues between Brady, Guerrero and the media that he will not address and that is fine. Brady will talk about his relationship with Guerrero whenever he feels it is right. So why can’t the media just accept that? There are bigger issues facing this team in the 2018 season that the media should be covering.

New Faces Emerge in New England

The Patriots have a lot of new faces that they need to incorporate into their lineup come September 9th. Among those new faces are Adrian Clayborn, Cordarrelle Patterson, Jason McCourty, Sony Michel and Trent Brown. Clayborn and McCourty hope to aid returning starters Dont’a Hightower Derek Rivers who are coming back from injury, and solidify a defense that played pretty bad at times last season. While Michel and Patterson have been added to Tom Brady’s arsenal. Brown has been handed the tall task in protecting Brady’s blindside.

Wide Receiver Groups Keep Taking Hits

Another issue facing the Patriots Julian Edelman’s suspension and the Patriots depleted wide receiver group. Starting with Edelman, he is coming off a torn ACL and he missed all of 2017. He has only caught 7 passes this preseason for 49 yards in 3 games which is not anywhere he needs to be to boost this offense. Also, after losing Amendola, who else do the Patriots have at wide receiver? Chris Hogan is still there and Phillip Dorsett has had a good camp this summer as well as a good preseason Outside of those two, it seems to be up in the air. Malcolm Mitchell, Jordan Matthews and Kenny Britt were released throughout the summer and newly signed Eric Decker retired unexpectedly. So who will step up in Julian Edelman’s absence? Gronkowski will no doubt rack up the stats and James White will be a threat out of the backfield. Someone else needs to step up to give the offense some rhythm so when Edelman comes back in week 5, the offense wont miss a beat.

Bouncing Back from a Super Defeat

Lastly, how will this team bounce back from a heartbreaking Super Bowl loss? The Patriots came from within a few plays of winning back to back Super Bowls for the first time in 13 years. However, the Philadelphia Eagles had other plans and the Patriots suffered another loss in the big game. How do they respond as they take the long road back to the top? So, will the team start slow as they work out the kinks? Or will they pick up where they left off in the Super Bowl? Despite losing to Philadelphia 6 months ago, the team played pretty well, more specifically on the offensive side of the football. Only time will tell how the Patriots will react to the loss in the Super Bowl.

Media Obsessed with Guerrero. Why?

With all of these question marks surrounding the Patriots, the media still focuses on the off field issues that include Alex Guerrero. Why? There is no definitive answer to this lingering question but here is a theory.

This team has been solid inside and out for nearly 20 years. Aside from SpyGate, DeflateGate and Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots have been your prototypical sports franchise. They are owned the right way with Robert Kraft, coached the right way with Bill Belichick and they have players who say and do the right things on and off the field. Also, don’t forget that this is successful as well winning Super Bowls, AFC Conference titles, division titles, etc.

With all of this success, it seems like the Boston media is bored talking about yet another possible Super Bowl run for the Patriots. So, they are using their time talking about Guerrero which will annoy Brady so they can piggyback off of that and create their own controversy. Maybe it is more enjoyable for other journalists to stir the pot than to focus on what is important.

Will the media ever learn their lesson or change their ways? In due time, that question will be answered.