FOXBORO — When the Patriots punched in for work Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, there was no talk of Tom Brady’s relationship with Bill Belichick, or Belichick’s relationship with Robert Kraft, or Kraft’s relationship with Brady, or Brady’s relationship with . . . well, you get the idea.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Patriots over the years, there’s yet to be an off-the-field distraction that can afford a ticket to get inside Gillette Stadium on Game Day. And so it was for Saturday night’s limbering-up exercise, er, divisional playoff game, against the Tennessee Titans.
Not a word about the Jimmy Garoppolo trade. Nothing about Alex Guerrero. No questions about Brady’s birth certificate.
It was all about the football as the Pats coasted to a 35-14 victory over the latest collection of postseason frauds to be left at the 1 Patriot Place doorstep. Though the Titans took the early lead as Corey Davis pulled in a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Pats roared back with five straight touchdowns — including a Brady-to-Chris Hogan 4-yarder in the second quarter.
Life just keeps getting better for the Patriots, doesn’t it? Here’s Hogan, having missed a big chunk of the season with a shoulder injury and without a TD pass since Oct. 5 against Tampa Bay, and now he’s back on the scoring ledger again. So the Pats had that going for them, as well as yet another nationwide round of howling when one second magically appeared on the clock just before halftime, and just after Brady had connected with Danny Amendola for an 11-yard completion.
Stephen Gostkowski went wide left on a 53-yard field goal attempt as the half ended, but . . . whatever. It’ll go into the books as yet another example of everything going New England’s way, and, gee, isn’t it fun to be talking football again?
And what football it was: The Pats amassed a whopping 31 first downs. It was only the third time in franchise history that they’d picked up 30 or more first downs in a playoff game. The defense sacked Mariota eight times.
Distractions, anyone?
“This time of year there’s no such thing as being a distraction,” said safety Devin McCourty. “Unless you got some kind of issue going on with your family, there’s nothing else.”
Negative press?
“I’ve been around long enough, 18 years, there have been so many ice things said about me it just goes with the territory,” said Brady. “Regardless of whether I’m the worst quarterback in the league, the best quarterback in the league or somewhere in between, my job’s to be the best I can for our team every week.”
True, the good times Saturday night don’t destroy the narrative that Kraft, Belichick and Brady have . . . issues. It merely puts the narrative on hold. And as if to remind us of this, said reminder arrived early Saturday afternoon in the form of a little item from Ian Rapoport, who writes for NFL.com and tweets under the handle @RapSheet.
According to Rapoport, “The #Patriots triumvirate plans to meet after the season to relieve the tension and hash out their issues.”
Hmmm.
Tension?
Hash out the issues?
What issues?
In case you’ve forgotten, on Friday, Jan. 5 the Patriots released a joint statement from Kraft, Belichick and Brady indicating there is no such tension. The three men stated that “. . . In recent days, there have been multiple media reports that have speculated theories that are unsubstantiated, highly exaggerated or flat out inaccurate. The three of us share a common goal. We look forward to the enormous challenge of competing in the postseason and the opportunity to work together in the future, just as we have for the past 18 years. It is unfortunate that there is even a need for us to respond to these fallacies. As our actions have shown, we stand united.”
As if to personally address Rapoport's tweet, Kraft appeared on WBZ-TV before the game and said, “When you have something good going, there’s always tension. If you have good people, there’s a lot of dynamic things going on. There is nothing that much out of the ordinary.”
If you believe Rapoport it means it’ll be an extra busy offseason for the Pats. In addition to the scouting combines, the draft, minicamp and “organized team activities,” the Patriots will also need to find time for fence-mending.
Kraft certainly isn’t going anywhere, and he has no plans to trade Brady, who will keep playing for as long as he can, but, sorry, not at age 45. As for Belichick, he’ll be back because the arrangement, dented though it is, can be fixed. And because the 2018 Patriots will be a preseason favorite to win Super Bowl LIII at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. (Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan will be there. In a luxury suite.)
The day will come when Kraft, Belichick and Tom Brady are kickin’ back in Canton — and we’re not talking about Canton, Mass., up the road from Gillette Stadium.
But first, they need to meet for dinner and talk it out. I suggest Rosetta's Italian Restaurant in Canton — the Canton that is up the road from Gillette Stadium.
That’s later on. For now, there’s the football. And there go the Patriots, embarrassing another playoff foe and preparing for their annual trip to the AFC championship game.