What's wrong with Mr. Patriot, Brady? Nothing at all

There seems to be a lot of unnecessary angst going around about Tom Brady. Apparently, nervous New England Patriots fans are worried that he's not the same guy, questioning his decision to spend much of the offseason in the Los Angeles area with his wife and two children and wondering what impact it has on his game.

I'll tell you what: zero.

The last time I checked Brady won another division title, which makes it seven in the eight seasons he completed as the Patriots' starter and a perfect eight-for-eight with a winning record. So he didn't win a playoff game last year. It happens. It just didn't happen to Brady until Baltimore pulverized him and his teammates in Foxborough last January.

Tom Brady and the Patriots left a bad impression when they were crushed by the Ravens on Jan. 10 in Foxborough. (Getty Images)

Only now some Patriots' fans reportedly fear that Brady's gone soft and isn't the same quarterback. Well, he wasn't the same quarterback in that Baltimore loss. Of that I'm certain. But that didn't have anything to do with where he's keeping house. It had to do with his ribs. According to several insiders, three of them were broken, and next time you break a rib try breathing.

It doesn't feel so good, does it?

Yet Brady somehow played through it. OK, so he played poorly. The surprise is that he played at all. Plus, he didn't lose that game. The New England defense did. It stunk, with the Ravens shredding it for 234 yards rushing, including an 83-yard touchdown run by Ray Rice on the game's first play.

Granted, Brady didn't help things with three interceptions, but he was impaired -- just as he was impaired down the stretch when he put up passer ratings of 74 or lower in four of his last five starts. He had one in his first 10.

Yet Brady did what he does virtually every season when he's not rehabbing a knee injury, which is to take the Patriots to the playoffs. The problem is that he didn't take them to the Super Bowl, which some fans apparently construe as evidence that Brady's peregrinations might be affecting his play on the field.

I understand, except for one thing: YOU CAN'T GO TO THE SUPER BOWL EVERY SEASON!!!!

Sorry, it just doesn't happen. Brady went three times in four years and four times in seven. He also made it to the conference championship game five times in seven years. And for that he gets … what? Fears that he's gone Hollywood on the Pats? Please. Joe Montana, widely considered the best quarterback of his generation and one of the three best quarterbacks ever, went to four Super Bowls in 16 seasons, which means he didn't go in 12 of those years.

He didn't win a playoff game in 1985. He didn't win one in 1986, either. Or in 1987 when the 49ers had the best record in the NFL. Yet tell me which quarterback San Francisco fans would like to have today, and it's Montana in a landslide. He won a lot of games and a lot of Super Bowls, and he made a lot of people happy.

Tom Brady

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The problem, of course, is that when you win a lot of Super Bowls nobody is satisfied. Raise the bar, and you raise expectations. It's as if Montana and Brady are victims of their own success. When they fail to measure up to past performances, fans want to know what happened -- and in Brady's case, some want to know if it's because he spends more time in the offseason with his family in California than with his teammates in Massachusetts.

Well, first of all, let's hear it for a professional athlete who wants to spend time with his wife and kids. I mean, what would you rather have: Ben Roethlisberger acting like a moron in some bar in Georgia or Brady settling down with his family on the West Coast? Brady is spending time with his family because, well, that's what husbands and fathers are supposed to do.

Any questions?

Good. Let's move on. That he didn't win a playoff game last year means virtually nothing … except maybe that he was hurt more than anyone let on. Imagine. He was coming off a terrible knee injury the previous season, yet somehow managed to win 10 games and throw 28 touchdown passes. That made him the league's Comeback Player of the Year. Then he suited up against the big, bad Baltimore Ravens with sore ribs and got drilled.

What I find intriguing is that people wonder if he's lost his fast ball when all he did was lose a game where he played with a rib injury `and a broken ring finger on his right hand. Peyton Manning is 9-9 in the playoffs and 1-1 in Super Bowls, yet before losing to New Orleans in Super Bowl XLIV some observers wanted to crown the guy the greatest quarterback of all time.

Brady is 14-4 in the playoffs and a winner of three Super Bowls. Yet he loses a playoff game with fractured ribs, and critics want to know what's wrong. Nothing, that's what.

So maybe they should be concerned that he doesn't have a new contract. I mean, he only has one season left after this one, and not having a long-term deal in place now -- with only one season left on his current contract -- might mean trouble down the road, right?

Don't believe it. What? You think the Patriots aren't going to keep the greatest quarterback in club history and one of the best of all time? There was a better chance of the Celtics letting Larry Bird walk.

Tom Brady IS the New England Patriots. So he might not spend as much time around Foxborough as before. Big deal. You wouldn't, either, if you grew up on the West Coast and had your family there. So he doesn't have a long-term contract nailed down. Neither does Peyton Manning, and his contract expires when Brady's does. If you're Tom Brady's agent don't you think you might want to proceed carefully, waiting on the Manning deal to establish the market?

I would.

Then what's the big deal with Brady? That he doesn't have a new contract? He will. That he spends time with his family in California? He should. That he lost a playoff game? It happens. Tom Brady is not the reason New England fans should be anxious. But the New York Jets? Now that's another story.