On the same day that the Seahawks exited the playoffs by losing in Atlanta, the Patriots advanced to their sixth straight AFC title game.
Seahawks safety Earl Thomas noticed it, and he doesn’t like it. The Pro Bowler who broke his leg during a Sunday night win over the Panthers in early December took to Twitter to vent about the fact that the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady have dominated thanks to their assignment to a division that has struggled to compete with New England.
Tom Brady has the easiest route... put his ass in our division and see what he does!!! #salty!!
— Earl Thomas (@Earl_Thomas) January 15, 2017
While the NFC West isn’t what it recently was, the Seahawks continue to be a very good team. They beat the Patriots in New England during the regular season, and seeing them face Brady twice per year would be exciting and compelling.
And it’s not entirely impossible. If/when the Patriots decide to move on from Brady before Brady decides to move on from football, the 49ers surely would be one of the few teams with which he’d want to end his career. Especially if/when Josh McDaniels is the coach in San Francisco.
Given the manner in which Brady is playing, it’s highly unlikely the Patriots will be nudging Brady out the door any time soon. Which means that, if McDaniels gets the job in San Francisco, Thomas may have to settle for seeing Jimmy Garoppolo in the division for the next several years, at a minimum.