Tom Brady injured; Patriots to start Tim Tebow

Last week marked a difficult game for the New England Patriots, even as they rolled over the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs. While the Texans did not stand a chance against the indomitable Patriots air attack, they did at least exhibit some type of balanced gameplay outside of a star quarterback. Late in the third quarter, Tom Brady was sacked by J.J. Watt, the explosive defensive end for the Texans. While being sacked, Brady attempted to break free from Watt, and in doing so fell on his coccyx, bruising it.

For most NFL quarterbacks, this would have taken a day or two to heal, and they would have been back on the line. Not for Brady, whose ability to perform is balanced on a knife’s edge. After the injury, New England physicians have determined that Brady will be unable to play in the AFC Championship against the Baltimore Ravens. Rather than turn to Ryan Mallett, the second-string quarterback who never gets a chance to play, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has chosen to sign Tim Tebow at the last minute to start in Brady’s place.

In defense of his incredibly stupid choice, Belichick has said that he believes Tebow has an “x-factor” that makes him very dangerous on the field. What Belichick left out was that Tebow’s x-factor makes him dangerous to his own team, not the the opponent’s. Having not played in a real football game in months, Tebow is unlikely to complete more than three passes all game. His running antics will likely confuse his offensive line, and may result in some hilarious turnovers.

As a result, it appears that once again the victor will likely be the team with the best kicker. Neither of these teams posses a high-powered quarterback right now, and the best they can hope for is that they can put up enough three-pointers to make this game worth watching.

As for New England? Perhaps it’s time to start looking ahead to next season for the Patriots. Perhaps Tom Brady has run his course. Perhaps they should consider investing in someone much younger, someone less likely to injure his coccyx while being sacked. We can only speculate now, but Sunday’s game is not going to be pretty for either the Ravens or the Patriots.