At the end of the 2009 season, Charley Casserly of CBS reported that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was playing with broken ribs, and Patriots coach Bill Belichick responded by lashing out at Casserly and asking, “Who’s been wrong more than Charley Casserly?”
As it turns out, the person who fills out the Patriots’ injury report has been wrong more than Charley Casserly.
Brady’s personal throwing coach, Tom Martinez, has confirmed that Brady had broken ribs and a broken finger that were bothering him leading up to the Patriots’ Week 16 game against the Jaguars.
“He had a broken finger and three broken ribs,” Martinez told ESPN.com. “He wasn’t throwing well.”
Albert Breer of the Boston Globe writes that the news of Brady’s broken ribs and broken finger was withheld because Brady didn’t want to use his injuries as an excuse for poor play.
Whatever the reason, teams aren’t supposed to withhold injury information.
And Belichick was wrong to attack Casserly with a lie.