AJ Brown and Christian Gonzalez Almost Came to Blows at Practice AGAIN, and I'm Here for All of It
In past reports from Patriots training camp, both this season and last, I've celebrated how boring these practices have been. Because boredom is always welcome when the alternative is ... well, interesting.
Interesting applies controversy. Injuries. Contract holdouts. Disgruntled players. Coaches that seem to be in over their heads. Bad body language. Bad blood. Anonymous sources talking shit about how unhappy a guy is. For the better part of two decades, it seemed like every Pats camp had at least one major storyline. As benign as half the Journos in the western world rolling up to ask about Tim Tebow, to as ominous as the reports Bill Belichick trashed Rob Gronkowski for doing his treatments at TB12 Fitness, and the Pliability War that followed.
But not all controversies are so controversial. The right kind of conflict can be exactly what a team needs to break up the monotony. And in this camp, that is the ongoing beef between two of the three most talented athletes on the current roster.
I referenced AJ Brown and Christian Gonzalez facing each other all camp yesterday. And in my constant effort to leave no obscure pop culture reference unturned, called it Valyrian steel sharpening a Hattori Hanzo blade. The reason I'm recycling that so soon (aside from pure laziness) is it has been a common theme over the past week or so:
Even to the point of injury:
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For his part, Brown is loving it. To the point of getting naturally high off the competition:
And after the two crossed metaphorical swords again today:
… things apparently got ugly. To the point the two started beefing, and almost had to be separated. And Gonzalez seconded Brown's emotion:
… getting each other better. He's gonna face corners like that."
To me, this is why all the heat these two are generating between each other is such a pure good. As consistently excellent as Gonzalez has been - and he will go down in history as the last great gift Belichick left this franchise - there's something a little unnerving about a soft spoken, even tempered cornerback. I'm not suggesting every cover corner needs to be gene-spliced with the DNA of Deion Sanders, Richard Sherman and Courtland Finnegan. There's not one, all-purpose personality capable of playing the position. But it helps. It's comforting to know he's got some fire in his eyes to go with all those coverage skills. He doesn't have to be a raving maniac, it's just good to know he's not passive, he's aggressive.
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And the fact Gonzo can not only stay with a guy like Brown but shit talk with him too? That gives me even more hope for his career going forward than the record-breaking contract extension his probably going to sign before camp is over.
Not to mention, it's good for the Patriots that it's possible neither Brown nor Gonzalez will face anybody this season better than the guy they're fighting with on the practice field behind Gillette every day. One can only hope it stays that way all year.