The day is upon us that Tom Brady returns to Foxboro. Not as the prodigal son. But as an invader with the intent to lay waste to the father figure he once ruled the realm with. Bill Belichick. As with any father-son dynamic. This one is rife with good intentions, bad intentions, honesty, and circuitry. The son, Brady, tried to please the father, Belichick, by being the best he could be. By all accounts, he IS the best quarterback the NFL has ever known. But the father was plagued by demons. The Belichick- Brady conundrum best resembles King Saul and the would-be King David saga of the Old Testament. Belichick as head coach of the New England Patriots is King Saul. He is the ruler but he faces a big problem. There is a Goliath in front of him. As a head coach, he is unsuccessful. This Goliath of failure looms over him. It grows larger week by week, year by year. In five years as Cleveland’s head coach, he compiled a losing record of 36-44. With only one winning season. He is in his second year with New England. The season before his team went 9-7. With the pressure on Belichick awards Drew Bledsoe with the highest paying contract in the NFL. He is all in on Bledsoe and Bledsoe will determine his fate. But not in the way that he thought.
In the second game of the season, Bledsoe is injured and in steps unheralded, unknown, and undaunted Tom Brady. Like the Shepherd boy David was. Brady is unknown and untested. No one gives him a chance to survive. Belichick’s Goliath has overwhelmed more highly tout men than he. All seems lost. Belichick is surely done. But Brady not only survives. He thrives. By the end of the season, Brady has slain Belichick’s Goliath in spectacular fashion. In doing so he heralds a new age for the New England franchise. Yet Belichick, like King Saul, finds himself in another disagreeable state. He senses the public may not see him as the king. Brady is the conqueror. Brady is the one on the field. Bradys is the one subjugating the enemies of the realm. Belichick can hear the public adulation of Brady and it bothers him. Is he not the king? if so, why are the masses shouting Brady’s name? Why does Brady’s fame surpass that of his? He should be eternally grateful. Instead, he is vexed. Like Saul with David, Belichick attempts to do in then do away with Brady. But for twenty years something, some call it divine intervention, always comes up and interferes. No matter what Belichick does, the star of Brady keeps rising higher and higher.
Saul eventually bans David from his kingdom. He pushes him out and brands him an outlaw. But instead of fading away. David remains prominent in the people’s hearts and minds. Sauls’s unsavory treatment of David has only bonded him even more in the souls of the masses. Many of Saul’s kingdom side with David. They overtly and secretly want him overthrown. Eventually, David returns to do just that. This is what it feels like today. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady. He of earnest intentions and humble origins. Has come to do in the man who has tried to do him in. He comes not as a vindictive vanquisher. But as an avenging angel. Last season Belichick went 7-9 after pushing Tom Brady out the door. If he produces another dismal season after spending 300 million in free agency. His days are numbered. Tom Brady has come in to do just that. To push him closer toward that end by defeating him today. If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win in Foxboro today. Let all hail, King Brady.