Alan Greenwood

Asante Samuel, last noticed here when he ruined a perfect season by letting a sure interception clank off his finger tips, offered his thoughts as to Tom Brady’s flight to Tampa Bay.

“He probably just got fed up with it at the end of the day,” Samuel said in an interview with TMZ Sports. “He probably just got tired of it. He probably got tired of some inner-circle things that he wanted.”

Most likely, Samuel is correct. And at the end of the day, does it really matter why Brady left the Patriots?

That answer would be no.

It has become the stock answer when someone leaves the Patriots. Bill Belichick pushes everyone out the door with his snarling, no-nonsense ways.

Apparently, winning championships and being paid a tidy fortune in doing so isn’t enough.

Would a warm and cuddly coach make it easier to play for New England? Certainly; who doesn’t want to work for a warm, cuddle pushover of a boss.

Would a warm and cuddly coach have brought his team to nine Super Bowls, winning six of them, over an unprecedented 20-year run?

That answer would also be no.

The one question that is too difficult to address with a one-word answer is whether Belichick made Brady into a Hall of Famer or did Belichick made Brady a lock for the Hall?

Every other team had ample opportunities to take Brady in the 2000 NFL Draft. Belichick clearly saw something that the others missed. So Belichick made him the 199th pick.

At any rate, may Brady and Rob Gronkowski light it up and have all sorts of giggles along the way in Tampa Bay … at least until Gronkowski endures his annual debilitating injury.

Contact Alan Greenwood at 594-1248 or agreenwood@nashuatelegraph.com.

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