Summer Camping

Breaking news from Patriots training camp: Tom Brady still not old.

Early days - they had their first padded practice today - but it's hard not to get excited by the news out of training camp for the New England Patriots. Brandin Cooks is burning defensive backs in passing drills, Mike Gillislee is scoring goal line TDs, UDFA fave Austin Carr is making highlight reel catches, Malcolm Butler is playing hard despite the offseason contract kerfuffle. Dwayne Allen has stopped dropping passes. Cyrus Jones is acting like he actually cares. Rookies and second year players are showing up. Tom Brady is still Tom Brady.

Aside from Rob Ninkovich's mysterious absence, it's all puppies on Christmas morning for the 2017 Patriots so far.

Okay, Dont'a Hightower is on PUP but we'd all rather have him on the sideline now than in January. It also gives the Patriots coaches an opportunity to get recently signed David Harris up to speed while experimenting with the pu pu platter of Elandon Roberts, Kyle Van Noy, Shea McClellin, Jonathan Freeny, and Harvey Langi, another UDFA fave.

Linebacker isn't the only position group with a logjam of talent and hard choices for Patriots' coaches, of course. Wide receiver, running back, defensive line, safety all have more good players than roster spots. Finding a starting slot corner and a backup guard/center seem to be the biggest problems for New England as the pads come on. Someone we love is likely to be playing for another team when the regular season kicks off.

The Patriots of Bill Belichick are the ultimate meritocracy. Players win their jobs. Belichick doesn't care about where a player was drafted, what he's paid, or whether talk radio trolls will be chirping about what he gave up in trade assets to bring in a player he just cut. In this world there really aren't that many people who truly give zero fucks but Bill Belichick is certainly one of them. (It's a short list; Beyonce, Jeff Bezos, Pope Francis, and Belichick.) If Harvey Langi or Austin Carr make the Final 53 they will have earned it. If D.J. Foster puts Dion Lewis on the trade block it will be because Bill Belichick believes Foster gives the Patriots a better chance to win. I expect Nick Caserio will be monitoring injury reports for the other 31 teams closely as we get into the preseason. Nobody likes stockpiling 6th rounders more than Bill Belichick.

Is the talk of 19-0-0 premature, foolish, disrespectful, and either an obvious attempt at a reverse jinx by Patriots haters or a bittersweet nostalgia from local media and fans for 2007 failed assault on perfection? Yes. Sure. One of my favorite smart guy quotes is "The perfect is the enemy of the good." The Patriots are saying all the right things publicly.

But this is what it means to be the Patriots.

Other teams aren't worried about their backup left guard; they have no idea who's going to be their starting quarterback.

Other teams aren't thinking about the Lombardi Trophy, they're wondering if they can win more than they lose this year and maybe make the playoffs.

For the New England Patriots, the expectation isn't about winning enough games to make the playoffs, it's about winning them all; it isn't about making the playoffs, it's about winning the Super Bowl.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sure, it was fun rooting for that rag-tag bunch of cast-offs and yet-to-become legends back in 2001 but being lovable underdogs is highly overrated. Rooting for a team with a chance to back-to-back and three out of four is special. Pigskin pundits and bobbleheads want to comp this team with 2007 but for me this is 2004 all over again. This is a team that can write it's name large on the pages of NFL history. Tom Brady has spent his entire career proving the doubters wrong and I would personally like to thank every one of the gridiron cognoscenti who have predicted Brady will age dramatically in 2017. I'd like to thank the pigskin pundits and bobbleheads who continue to insist on Aaron Rodgers as the greatest QB of all time. (Just Google "Aaron Rodgers better than Brady;" it's like a cottage industry for bloggers. Don't know what to write about today? How Rodgers vs. Brady? Spoiler Alert: Super Bowl wins don't matter.) I'd also like to thank Tony Dungy for ranking Brady the 6th best QB in NFL history, regardless of the rationalization. I know, I know. Tom Brady doesn't take anything personally, at least in public. In private, I can't help but imagine Brady texting to Rodney Harrison, "How can you work with that self-righteous, pompous ass?" Whether that's true or not (probably not), it's clear that Brady has never competed with Montana or Peyton or Rodgers or anyone other than himself. He's always been the perfect quarterback for Belichick because he only cares about competing, getting better, giving nothing but his best on every single play, and winning.

What do you do to top the greatest comeback in NFL championship history and the first overtime game of the Super Bowl era?

How about 19-0?

Or as Bill Belichick might put it, 1-0, nineteen times in a row.