As Patriots quarterback Tom Brady prepares to return to the field in a regular-season game for the first time since Week One 2008, Tom Curran looks at what is waiting for him.
It’s enough to make the scar on Carson Palmer’s knee ache.
Brady will be blitzed, Curran predicts. Constantly and aggressively.
The challenge will be for the Patriots to protect him. And if anyone can come up with a plan for keeping the quarterback in one piece, it’s Pats coach Bill Belichick.
Especially since Belichick knows that Brady will expecting it. Indeed, Belichick tells Curran that Brady is “hard to coach” because of his level of preparation and expectation.
“You have to be better prepared than he is because he sets such a high standard with his preparation and his level of understanding,” Belichick told Curran. “As a coach, you’re competing with that, trying to exceed that or else, what are you doing [for him]?”
The best thing Belichick can do for Brady is keep his body and its contents assembled as intended.
It will be a challenge, but we’ve got a feeling that Belichick and Brady welcome it.
The process begins Monday night, against the Bills.