-The Price of PSI:  Score one for Roger Goodell.  After roaring to a 3-0 non-Brady start behind multiple quarterbacks, the Patriots hit a QB wall Sunday in a 16-0 drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.  I guess Patriots fans were asking too much for their team to emerge from the depths of Deflategate completely unscathed, particularly when they received the surprising news that Jimmy “I may be better looking than Brady but I’m clearly not as tough” Garoppolo decided to tap out, handing the QB reigns to Jacoby Brissett, an injured rookie making just his second career NFL start.  It was only a matter of time before the Patriots non-Brady luck ran out and Belichick’s genius reached it’s limit, and that time was Sunday afternoon at Gillette.

At least for the 66,000+ that made the long traffic-filled trek to Foxboro they weren’t tortured with one of those slow football deaths that unfolds over three long hours.  Nope, this one was quick and filled with early dark omens in all three phases of football, that left little doubt about the eventual outcome.

It started on special teams when wildly unimpressive rookie kick returner Cyrus Jones, in back-to-back kickoffs, foolishly elected to take the ball out of the endzone and failed to get anywhere near the 25-yard line.  In a Brady game you might not give this a second thought, but when your offense is already operating at a disadvantage the last thing you want to do is give them a long field.  The opening kickoff was particularly troubling as Jones hemmed and hawed in the end zone, looking less like an NFL player and more like a guy that was catching a football for the first time.  Does this guy wear ear-buds during special teams meetings?  The mistakes were small but telling.

Then Brissett and the offense took the field and on the first play from scrimmage appeared to explode for a 90-yard catch and run by Julian Edelman, that would have put the Patriots on the Bills one-yard line.  But two flags on receiver Chris Hogan quickly wiped out the gain foreshadowing what would be a very long afternoon for the offense.  The Patriots wouldn’t gain 90 yards on their next five drives combined, as the conservative game-plan that had somehow baffled the Houston Texans a week earlier was completely ineffective against a Bills defense that was smarter and hungrier than their Texas counterparts.  By the time the final gun sounded there was a big fat zero on the Patriots side of the scoreboard, the first time New England had been shutout in the 14+ year history of Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots first look on defense wouldn’t go any better.  On Buffalo’s opening drive their offense met little resistance while waltzing 65-yards to their first and only touchdown of the game.  The Bills ripped over seven minutes off the clock and barely broke a sweat.  And though they would not find the endzone again, or need to, Buffalo’s offense would spend all afternoon effortlessly skipping past the Patriots defense and their much-hyped invisible duo at linebacker, Jamie Collins and Dont’a Hightower.  And don’t be fooled by that 16 on the scoreboard.  While the offense played slightly better than the zero they put up, the defense played much worse than their final number.  So much for helping out your rookie QB.

It was 60 long minutes of football for New England on Sunday, but truthfully, after about 10 minutes you knew where this thing was headed.  The Patriots were dominated early and often in all three phases and somewhere that scoundrel Goodell was laughing his ass off.  Three weeks of watching New England rack up three wins, showcase its backup quarterback and seeing Brady relaxing unfazed in the Italian sun, left Roger needing a victory; and on Sunday he got one.  After stealing two draft picks, a million bucks and the reputation of the preeminent team in the NFL, Goodell finally exacted his pound of on-the-field flesh.  Enjoy it while it lasts Roger because this Sunday it will be Brady’s turn to respond and after four weeks of intercontinental jet-setting and playing catch with Wes Welker, I am betting he is going to have a lot to say on the field come Sunday.  But don’t worry little Roger, I’m sure the balls will be thoroughly checked and fully inflated when Brady unloads on the Browns, because we all know how much more important that is to you than brain injuries, steroids or domestic violence.

Onto Cleveland.

-Back to the Future:  Sunday was as boring as it gets as far as Patriots games go but it did provide a fascinating simultaneous portal into both the Patriots past and future.  While it is unfair to compare a rookie quarterback to seasoned veterans, Brissett’s struggles had to remind previously long-suffering Pats fans of life before Brady, when watching inept quarterback play was as routine in New England as Red Sox collapses and lousy weather.  Before Brady jogged onto the field on the fateful September afternoon in 2001, watching the Bledsoes, Grogans and Easons throw away football games had become almost a rite of passage for Boston sports fans.  But that was a much different NFL than the one we know today.  Quarterbacks were important but they were not essential.  A team could have anywhere from an above average to mediocre quarterback and still go to the Super Bowl (1985, 1996) or be a Super Bowl contender (1976).  Lost arts like running the football and defense were not treated like the red-headed step children that they are today.

Coaches can preach all they want about dominating the line-of-scrimmage or winning on special teams but that pales in comparison to the importance of the NFL quarterback.  In the current iteration of the NFL, the QB is king.  He is the most important player on an NFL team and the most important player in all of sports.  No athlete influences outcomes more than the modern day NFL quarterback.  And on Sunday New England received a harsh reality check of what future football might look like when Brady finally rides off into that proverbial sunset.  Of course, the Patriots will probably have a starter that is better than a banged up third-string rookie, but still, there will be plenty of wire-to-wire stinkers like Sunday once Brady is no longer around to inoculate the team from such disasters.  Which makes you wonder if Belichick was also taking note of what life after Brady could look like and perhaps altering his plans for Garoppolo.

I am on record as saying that Brady isn’t going anywhere.  When you reach that Larry Bird, Bobby Orr, Bill Russell level, the normal rules that govern an athlete’s fate simply don’t apply.  Brady has given everything he has to this team and region and provided unparalleled success, as well as countless millions, for Bob Kraft and his family.  You just don’t casually move on from that.  But Belichick appears, shall we say, less sentimental about such matters.  And while Brady certainly holds a unique place in Belichick’s coaching heart, did watching his team fumble their way to a humiliating shutout trigger the cold pragmatist in Belichick?  Perhaps a loss like that has Bill contemplating the post-Brady era and wondering if maybe anointing Garoppolo his successor is just too valuable to pass up.  Belichick has his own legacy to think about and the last thing he wants to do is end his career with a string of 7-9 seasons.  It’s going to be a very interesting offseason at Patriots Place.   

-Stock Watch:  So let’s assume Brady’s elite stature combined with a compulsive diet of Quinoa and Himalayan Pink salt preserves his status as the Patriots QB going forward, and Garoppolo ends up on the trading block.  Now we’re back to the question about what his potential trade value could be?  In all deals, be they real estate or sports trades, the key to maximizing value is having multiple bidders vying for the same unique asset.  That said, let’s take a look at the potential offseason Garoppolo trade partners for New England:

  -Cleveland Browns:  Ever want to know what it is like to be a Browns fan?  Take what happened to the Patriots Sunday and multiply by 16.  Desperate for wins and credibility, what would you prefer if you’re Cleveland, to take a flyer on Clemson QB Deshaun Watson, wait for him to develop and hope he’s not yet another Browns bust; or trade your first round pick for a more proven quarterback like Garoppolo and increase your chances to win right away?  Desperate for relevancy, Cleveland would be wise to choose the latter.

  -San Francisco 49ers:  The niners have a long history of high-level play at the QB position and Garoppolo would be the perfect QB to execute head coach Chip Kelly’s high octane offensive system.    

  -Chicago Bears:  Bears management has most likely reached the end of its patience with the pouty, oft-injured and always ineffective Jay Cutler.  Of course they would first have to dump Cutler but after this year the salary cap hit for releasing him plummets from 19 million to 2 million making the Bears very much in play for the Garoppolo sweepstakes.

  –St. Louis LA Rams:  This one is a little dicey.  The good news is that the Rams have a multitude of top-flight defensive talent coupled with a young franchise running back, and appear to be one QB away from being a serious contender.  The bad news is that they gave up a pile of draft picks to move up to the top of last year’s draft so they could acquire “franchise” quarterback Jared Goff.  This presents two barriers in a potential trade with New England: 1. They have limited draft capital after making that trade  2.  They appear to be all in on Goff.  I still, however, included them on the list because Goff struggled mightily throughout training camp and started the season third on the Rams depth chart.  If the Rams could trade him and recoup some of the picks they lost, they could use those picks to make a play for Jimmy G.  It’s possible, but not likely.

  -Arizona Cardinals:  Another longshot, but what if the soon-to-be 37 Carson Palmer implodes again in the playoffs?  Is it so crazy to think the Cardinals might decide to move on?  Acquiring Garoppolo would not only give them a fresh face at quarterback it would allow them to pair a potential young franchise quarterback with their other young talent like David Johnson and Tyrann Mathieu.

So with all those potential trade partners it’s clear that Jimmy has the trade value.  Garoppolo’s current value:  Top 10 pick

-Grow a Pair:  Did a Garoppolo trade become more likely when he failed to step up and play on Sunday?  What do you think that conversation with Belichick was like?

Belichick:  Are you ready?

Garoppolo:  I’m not playing.

Belichick:  What?

Garoppolo:  I just can’t go.

Belichick:  Brady would play.

Garoppolo sheepishly looks down

Belichick:  Wuss.

-”We’re Gonna Wait Till the Midnight Hour”:  At midnight Sunday Brady’s suspension ended, officially allowing him to talk about football with his teammates without worrying that the NFL would send a Minority Report style swat team crashing through the ceiling to take him into custody.  My favorite story about suspensions ending comes courtesy of Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin.  Yes, Irvin is an inarticulate babbling mess on NFL studio shows and has had his share of embarrassing legal moments, but in his playing days nobody gave a damn more about football and winning than the Playmaker.  As the story goes, Irvin was sitting in his car, outside of the Cowboys headquarters listening to Dallas play on Monday Night Football during the fourth and final week of his suspension.  At 12:01am when his suspension ended, Irvin ran onto the Cowboys practice field, in dress shoes and slacks, and proceeded to run pass patterns alone in the middle of the night.  A guy who cares that much can play for me anytime.

-Channeling his Inner Phil Simms:  After Julian Edelman’s 90-yard catch and run was negated Dan Fouts said about Edelman having to run that distance, “This has got to effect Edelman the rest of the game.”  Really?  Fouts actually thinks a wide receiver running on a football field is something his body isn’t prepared to endure.  So when Fouts threw a 60-yard pass during his playing days did one of the announcers say, “I’m not sure how Fouts will recover from that one?”

-Shooting Blanks:  The last time Brady was shutout in a game came in 2006 against Belichick’s grumpy college clone, Nick Saban, and the Miami Dolphins.

-QB Hubris:  In back-to-back weeks Belichick entered an NFL game with one healthy quarterback (sort of) and that quarterback was an unproven rookie.  Now that we know Garoppolo’s injury was more serious than some first thought it would have made a lot of sense to bring in a QB last week.  I’m not sure if it would have been the difference in the Bills game, but what was the downside?  Protecting the roster spot?  The Patriots have to cut two players when Brady and Rob Ninkovich return anyway.  New England was thin at the most important position on the field so they could protect the 52nd and 53rd men on the roster for two weeks?  That doesn’t make a lot of sense.

-The Dick Butkus of Cornerbacks:  It’s never a good sign on defense when your starting cornerback, Logan Ryan, has more tackles (14) than your top three linebackers combined.

-Friday Night Fights:  Before the game Buffalo backup CB Robert Blanton decided he didn’t like QB Jacoby Brissett jogging past him while the Bills DBs ran drills and decided to lunge at the rookie quarterback.  WR Malcolm Mitchell immediately came to his quarterback’s defense leading to a brewhaha that required coaches to break it up.  The next day on WEEI, receiver Danny Amendola was not happy that the Bills went after the Patriots rookies, “It pissed me off to tell you the truth.  I’m not going to forget about that…”  I have a feeling this tension might resurface in the Patriots/Bills rematch November 30th in Buffalo.

-To Pick or not to Pick:  On the Bills only touchdown, LeSean McCoy got wide open when a Buffalo receiver set a blatant pick on Dont’a Hightower.  Patriots fans might have been expecting a flag but the pick was perfectly legal because it occurred within one-yard of the line of scrimmage.  While it might have been the right call, it is aterrible rule that should be changed by the Rules Committee in the offseason.  Offenses have enough of an advantage without allowing their players to block defenders, regardless of where it happens on the field.

-Anger Management:  Not sure if Belichick was angry about the NFL’s liberal pick rules, a blown assignment on defense or slow WiFi, but right after McCoy’s touchdownBelichick slammed his tablet on the sideline.  Maybe the coach simply had a feeling that, 7-0 might be an insurmountable lead.

-Sunday Smackdown:  If you enjoy good old fashioned competition, next Sunday is shaping up to be an epic day of entertainment.  The Patriots play the Browns in Brady’s first game back from suspension at 1:00.  The Red Sox play the Indians in Game 3 of the ALDS at 4:00.  And Hillary squares off with Trump that night in their second debate.

-Shit Show 2016:  Speaking of politics, last week after the first debate between Hillary and Trump a lot of people were unhappy with moderator Lester Holt and some of themtook to Twitter and started sending angry tweets to…….Jon Lester?  Yep, people actually confused the young, white, Chicago Cubs pitcher with the old, black, NBC news anchor, which makes perfect sense because Jon Lester and Lester Holt are almost identical names.  This story is both really, really strange and really, really stupid.