The Reporter Who Reported Brady and McDaniels Relationship 'Deteriorated' Stands by His Reporting
So yesterday, America's neverending sacred quest to explore the depths of Tom Brady's feelings for all the other grown men around him continued unabated with reports from Gary Myers of the NY Daily News and author of the book "Brady vs. Manning" that Brady's and Josh McDaniels "deteriorating" relationship was one of the reasons he's currently living in Derek Jeter's house in the land of vape shops and personal injury lawyers instead of along the fairway of a future site of the US Open.
A report that Brady wasted no time denying.
With that, Myers went on Scott Zolak's show on The Sports Hub Tuesday morning to confirm his report:
Myers told Zolak & Bertrand that his "initial source" was well-placed, to the point that everyone would believe him if he revealed the source's identity.
"It's just from people that I really trust, that had really good knowledge of what was going on there last year, and I'm probably just gonna leave it at that," Myers said. "If I was to tell you who told me that, and exactly how they know it, nobody out there would question the correctness of my report. It's that good a source."
There is no doubt in my mind - none whatsoever - that Brady and McDaniels had friction last year. And the year before that. And 2014. And in 2006. And any other of their 12 seasons in the last 15 where they had a QB/OC relationship. It's unavoidable. Because you know who butt heads and have contentious disagreements? People who care. Who are working for something that matters to them. It's why Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr threw fists in practice while some of the 9-year-olds I used to coach would be doing Spongebob impressions to each on the sidelines other down by four touchdowns. It's why the staff of an emergency room will exchange curt words with each other and I never beefed with my coworkers in the courthouse over anything more intense than me getting my hour for lunch. Because achievers are concerned about achieving. They have goals and strive to obtain them and won't let personal emotions stand in the way. The outcome is more important than the sentitivities of any one individual. The best understand that and it's no hard feelings afterward as long as the job gets done.
But saying that Brady's frustration with the offense deteriorated his relationship with McDaniels after all these years and all these championships and that's why he went running to the warm embrace of Byron Leftwich is a huge, huge claim. And a ridiculous one given all we know about both men and the success they've had together. I get that there were moments when because of injuries and Antonio Brown being the Antonio Browniest, he was running an offense that consisted of Julian Edelman and a bunch of day workers Nick Caserio found hanging outside the bus stop and drove to the stadium in his pickup. So the frustration was natural. But saying he took it out on McDaniels and that's why he wanted out is giant, presumptuous leap.
I appreciate Myers standing firmly behind his source and all. But the source I'm going by is the one guy person on Earth who knows exactly what's going on it Tom Brady's head. Tom Brady. Tom Brady Jr., to be precise, just since I think everyone will assume the source on this is Tom Sr. If Brady truly made his first major career change and rearranged his family's lives because he was sick of taking orders from his OC, he had the luxury of saying nothing. Of just allowing us all to assume this report is right. To take his silence as tacit approval for all the claims. Instead, he took the unusual step of going on the record and calling this what it is.
I'll say what I've been saying since he went to Tampa almost two months ago. This is semi-retirement for him. Gisele wanted to move. He's burned out on the relentless pursuit of perfection in New England.
And I think on the Patriots end, they were unwilling to give Brady more than the one more season they'd offered in last year's contract. Which is why the negotiations this offseason consisted of one reported call where Belichick is alleged to have said, "We made our offer in August." And the talks ended there. So Belichick and Caserio decided they'd rather transition to 23-year-old Jarrett Stidham on the second of four years at $3.15 million than Brady for two years and $50 million, plus with 20 more years on him.
So I'm going to stand behind my sources on this. Who just happen to be everything that Belichick, Mr. Kraft, McDaniels and now Brady have been saying all along.
