Bye Week Trashtalk: The Mystery of Brady’s Boot

I guess I’m not yet ready to go more than a week without trashtalk. Besides, this whole Tom Brady and his boot thing is getting so ridiculous that I had to post on it.

You see, I’m beginning to believe the whole thing is a plot, cooked up by Bill Belichick, to seriously fuck with the press and possibly even the Giants pre-game planning. What better plot than to send your hot quarterback Brady (speaking of which, see this BoGlo photo collection, which includes some of the boot pictures) down to visit his hot girlfriend Gisele in the press capital of the world which also just happens to be your Super Bowl opponent’s city? Send him down in a walking cast, and it’s just guaranteed to be photographed by the paparazzi. Then, the press wants to talk about nothing so much as whether or not Tom Brady is hurt and therefore will throw as badly in the Super Bowl as he did in the AFC Championships, ignoring all the other details of the game. And Belichick won’t be forced to admit to the Giants that it’s all a big trick until just four days before the game (though seriously, if Coughlin isn’t assuming that Brady will start and do some damage, he’s not so bright).

And what better way to minimize Bye Week stress on the rest of the team than by ensuring the only questions they’ll have to answer pertain to Brady’s Boot.

Running back Kevin Faulk has worn a boot in the past, and attracted little notice. “Because I’m not Tom Brady, I guess,” Faulk said.

Linebacker Adalius Thomas said: “I don’t know anything about a boot, a cup or a shoe. Or slippers. I don’t know. His slippers cost more than my shoes.”

Fullback Heath Evans vowed to don a boot “and see if you follow me around.”

[snip]

“Every channel I turned to, there it was,” Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour said. “Focused on the boot. I focused on the flowers.”

"Are you worried about the Giants’ pass rush, Matt Light?"

"What I’m really worried about, Boomer, is whether Brady will find a Patriots silver boot in time for the game."

So what do you think? Has Belichick taken his crafty ways off of the field to play the press, going so far as to excuse Brady from practice or hide him somewhere? Or are the Giants going to be facing Matt Cassell, who couldn’t hold onto a 20 point lead against Miami?