Tom Brady is returning to Foxborough this weekend to play the Patriots.
At this point, that’s not breaking news to anyone. But it’s all the NFL world has been talking about this week. So it’s no surprise that New England’s players are being peppered with questions about the man considered to be the greatest of all time.
But at a certain point, Brady questions can test anyone’s patience. Linebacker Matthew Judon, for instance, just signed with the Patriots in March. He respects Brady — don’t we all? — but he doesn’t share the same connection to him as many of those in and around the franchise.
So when Judon was asked his sixth question about Brady during his Thursday press conference, he’d had about enough.
“Bro, he’s the next quarterback we got to play,” Judon said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. “They also got two other quarterbacks on the roster. I know he was in this building for a long time, and what he’s done can never be taken away from the game of football, and what he did. But it’s not like we’re afraid of what Tom Brady can do. We have to stop their whole offense. We have to stop Rojo [Ronald Jones], we got to stop Leonard Fournette, we got to stop Mike Evans, we got to stop Gronk, O.J. [Howard], [Cameron] Brate, whoever they have at tight end. We have to defeat all the blockers up front and then we also have to play complementary football on offense and special teams.
“So Tom Brady is a great quarterback and nobody can take away what he did. But we’re not here to talk about that right now. We have to play a game and we have to stop him from winning a football game.”
It’s easy to understand why Judon would get a little testy with so many Brady questions. But Brady’s return is clearly the biggest storyline of the young season. The only way for the hype machine to stop is for Judon and the rest of the current Patriots is to go out and win on Sunday night.