The next 13 days are a critical juncture for the Patriots.
They have their conjugal visit with the Saints this week.
We could maybe, possibly, hopefully get some further clarity on whether Tom Brady will miss all, some or none of September.
The third preseason game, at Carolina, is a week from Friday. That one is always important but New England needs to get hay in the barn quickly, since they’ll face a quicker turnaround than 30 other teams after their final preseason game thanks to the September 10 opener.
Injuries and the uncertainty surrounding Brady have the Patriots in a position where they are flying a little bit blind at the moment.
The wide receiver corps – already working without Brandon LaFell – has been thinned by injuries to Julian Edelman and Aaron Dobson.
Both are getting closer to a return, it seems. Edelman and Dobson did drills with the team early in practice Saturday before adjourning to do conditioning on an adjacent field. Brian Tyms shed his red non-contact jersey and was able to return to practice Saturday.
New England Patriots
Getting backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo reps with a full cast of front-line targets this week and next is important since the uncertainty with Brady remains.
And the Patriots will also work toward getting their offensive line spots settled.
Will they go young at the guard spots with rookies Shaq Mason and Tre’ Jackson? Or do they go with more experienced players like Josh Kline and Jordan Devey?
And what’s the status of Ryan Wendell, Bryan Stork, Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer? All four of them have missed practice time (including Saturday) and didn’t play last Thursday against the Packers.
If Garoppolo is going to start against the Steelers, Bills, Jaguars and Cowboys – and that’s almost the way the coaching staff has to approach it, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst – this is a big week for the second-year quarterback to get more reps.
Which means we will likely be back in the business of debating “Will he or won’t he?” with Brady in terms of whether he’ll start and how long he’ll go.
As for Brady and his suspension, we’ll be in New York on Wednesday trying to read the legal tea leaves. No other conferences are scheduled after this week. Progress possibly made in face-to-face meetings on Wednesday and Thursday were chased by the harshly-worded filings of Friday which reminded everyone just how firmly entrenched the two sides appear to be.
The NFL will continue to argue that Judge Richard Berman should only be ruling on whether or not Roger Goodell followed labor law protocol and that Brady violated the integrity of the game.
The NFLPA will continue to hammer the process. The inconsistencies. The misdirections and double speak. The idea that it was an equipment violation. That nobody ever got this kind of suspension for lack of cooperation.
There doesn’t seem to be any common ground the two sides can work from.