Only time will tell, but it could be the Patriots have the NFL community right where they want it, so jubilant over its mugging of the New England franchise that it’s yet to realize the monster it’s created.
It was Boston’s own Ralph Waldo Emerson who warned long ago, “If you shoot a king, you’d better make sure he’s dead.”
You hear that a lot in political circles; if a challenge to leadership proves unsuccessful, the retaliation is often merciless.
Machiavelli, centuries earlier, had similar thoughts on the subject: “Never do an enemy a small injury,” he wrote.
That’s what bulletin board material is all about, which means a locker room display of snubs and insults foolishly uttered by opponents.
It’s meant to rile up players, as if their manhood has been challenged so egregiously they’ll be hell-bent to make those impudent loudmouths eat their words.
But yapping off is small potatoes compared to the mob attack inflicted on Tom Brady and the Patriots as the league pummeled them with punishments so draconian that anyone with half a brain could see this had nothing to do with business; indeed, this was strictly personal.
This was payback time. Unable to beat the reigning Super Bowl champions on the field, their envious foes, weary of being cannon fodder for the voracious New England machine, attempted to sack its quarterback and his franchise in a kangaroo court at NFL headquarters, insisting they were doing it to protect the integrity of the game.
Integrity? Please. Ray Rice remains welcome in the NFL fraternity after knocking out his then-fiancee with a vicious punch to her face?
And they say Brady’s character is flawed?
Do they not understand how ridiculous they look?
This is not a hometown point of view. If they’d done it to Peyton Manning, the reaction here would have been the same because, like Brady, the Denver quarterback has long been the epitome of professional demeanor, both on and off the field.
If the pressure in that ball was so significant, why didn’t game officials notice it right away? Don’t they handle the ball as often as Brady does?
As much as the Colts, who led the complaining, might like to believe it, they weren’t trounced 45-7 because of Brady’s grip on the ball in that AFC championship game. They simply lost to a better team.
But this, too, shall pass, and the day is coming when they will look across the line of scrimmage and realize:
The king is all better, and he’s looking for you.