Keep Grinding

This can't be good news for the Houston Texans. It seems Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots refuse to take the Texans lightly.

So much for the element of surprise, I guess.

Local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads are wondering if Belichick and Brady are being honest with us when they say things like, "this is the toughest defense we've played against all year" or "if we don't play our best, we'll get beat." I know. They always say that. But yeah, I do think they mean it. They respect the game and they respect the men who play it. And they're right. If you don't bring it, if you aren't fully in the moment when you step on the field, you are going to get beat and it really doesn't matter who you're playing.

It's a cold and heartless game. It's why so many of the men who play NFL football are done before they're 30. Not. For. Long. It isn't about losing a step; it's about losing half a step. The game tears your ligaments, it rattles your brain, it breaks your bones. It wears you down.

Well, unless you're Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr.

Because he is who he is, because he's played at the highest level the NFL can offer for seventeen years, Brady knows.  

He's seen it all and you can bet that the locker room is listening when he tells them they'd better be ready to play Saturday night. He knows Mike Vrabel, the Texans linebackers coach is going to have his players ready; he threw touchdown passes to Mike Vrabel once upon a time. He went nose to nose with Billy O'Brien a few years ago when O'Brien was New England's offensive coordinator. He knows Vince Wilfork will be bringing it. Brady has been an underdog and by nearly as many points as the Texans and won the Lombardi Trophy. He's been the quarterback for one of the best offenses in all of NFL history and lost in the Super Bowl.

Brady knows.

Nothing is given to you in the NFL. Play like this will be the hardest game you'll play all season.

Or go home.

Thanks for keeping it simple.

It is simple.

Win and there's still next week. Lose and go home.

Buckle up, boys.

Let's go!