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Brady Taking Break

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BOSTON – New England Patriots Tom Brady said Saturday that he has yet to focus on his impending free agency, and that there have not been significant discussions with the team about his contract situation.

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“The contract things, a week after the season, I would say these things haven’t even started to pick up,” Brady said in his weekly appearances on Westwood One radio. “It’s really not my concern at this point. It’s been about decompressing and resting my mind a little bit and resting my body and spending time with the people who have supported me over the last six months.

“I have no decision that I have made, and there won’t be for some considerable time,” noted the Patriots’ longtime QB.

Brady, 42, is set to hit free agency for the first time in his career on March 18, after his Patriots were eliminated from the postseason with a 20-13 home loss to the Tennessee Titans last Saturday.

Brady has been clear about his plans to keep playing, but he has declined to speculate on whether it will be with the team he has been with for two decades. Patriots owner Robert Kraft has said it is his “hope and prayer” that Brady either returns to New England or retires.

“I love playing football. I love playing for this organization,” Brady said Saturday. “I really don’t know what it looks like moving forward, and I’m just taking it day-to-day.

“There is a lot of time to figure these things out. I don’t think any player or team is ready to make any commitments at this point, and I’m sure as the offseason progresses those things will take care of themselves.”

Multiple reports have said the sides have not discussed contract details since Brady signed an altered deal in August, which gave him a raise in 2019 and will automatically void in March. If he does not sign a new deal before March 18, the Patriots would incur $13.5 million hit on their team salary cap for 2020, and Brady would officially become a free agent.

Brady finished the regular season having completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 4,057 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His completion percentage was his lowest mark since 2004, and his yards per attempt average (6.6) was his lowest since 2002. He missed out on a Pro Bowl selection for the first time since 2008, when he tore his ACL in Week 1.

A sixth-round pick in 2000, Brady has 74,571 passing yards, 541 touchdown passes and 179 interceptions in 285 career games (283 starts). He ranks behind only Drew Brees on the all-time lists for yardage (77,416) and touchdowns (547).

–Field Level Media

NFC Playoffs Game Scout

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Minnesota Vikings at San Francisco 49ers

When: 4:35 PM ET, Saturday, January 11, 2020
Where: Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California
Preview for Digital Sports Desk by Gracenote

SANTA CLARA – A goal-line stop in the waning moments of the regular-season finale allowed the San Francisco 49ers to secure the NFC’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the conference’s playoffs. The 49ers also received a bye, allowing reinforcements to return to the lineup on Saturday when they host the visiting Minnesota Vikings in California.

“It’s kind of a confidence boost,” San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner said of seeing teammates Kwon Alexander (pectoral muscle), Dee Ford (hamstring) and Jaquiski Tartt (ribs) in the lineup to return for Saturday’s tilt. “It’s been a while since we had all those guys back on the field together. The more weapons we have, the more powerful we’ll be.”

The 49ers were plenty powerful this season, although the club has been idle since securing the NFC West title after stopping tight end Jacob Hollister inches short of the goal line during a 26-21 victory at Seattle on Dec. 29. While San Francisco has used the time off to get healthy, sixth-seeded Minnesota is nursing injuries — with wideout Adam Thielen sustaining an ankle ailment during Wednesday’s practice.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection had just returned from a hamstring injury to reel in seven receptions for 129 yards in the Vikings’ 26-20 overtime victory over New Orleans in their wild-card clash last week.

TIME: 4:35 p.m. ET. TV: NBC. LINE: 49ers -7. O/U: 44.5

ABOUT THE VIKINGS (11-6): Kirk Cousins silenced his critics about his inability to win the big game, outdueling Drew Brees by tossing a game-ending touchdown to tight end Kyle Rudolph in overtime to win his first playoff contest in his eight-year career. “He showed the quarterback that we knew he was, the quarterback we knew we were bringing in,” running back Dalvin Cook said of the 31-year-old Cousins. “I’ve been around Kirk for two years now. He’s grown since he got here. That’s part of being in the NFL — getting better each year, each week that you’re in this game. And Kirk has been doing that.” Cook showed no sign of a shoulder injury last week, rushing for 94 yards and two touchdowns while amassing 130 yards from scrimmage. “I never got injured. I got banged up,” the 24-year-old Cook said. “Injured and banged up are two completely different things. I didn’t get injured this year. We took a precaution of holding me out so I could be ready for this stretch. I was good.”

ABOUT THE 49ERS (13-3): Jimmy Garoppolo’s bid for his third Super Bowl title and first as a starter begins on Saturday after he completed 18 of 22 passes for 285 yards against the Seahawks. The 28-year-old has relied heavily tight end George Kittle, who led the team in receptions (85), targets (107), receiving yards (1,053) and matched Kendrick Bourne in receiving touchdowns (five). A potent rushing attack was responsible for a league-best 23 touchdowns, although the Vikings’ defense has permitted just eight for the third fewest in the NFL. Raheem Mostert led the 49ers with eight scores on the ground, with seven coming in the last six weeks.

EXTRA POINTS

  1. Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs has missed practices on Tuesday and Wednesday due to illness, although coach Mike Zimmer said he expects the wideout to “be fine.”
  2. San Francisco DE Arik Armstead collected a team-best 10.5 sacks, although he failed to register at least one in his last five games.
  3. The teams are meeting in the postseason for the sixth time, and first since the 1997 divisional round.

PREDICTION: 49ers 21, Vikings 20

AFC Divisional Playoff Scout

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Tennessee Titans at Baltimore Ravens

When: 8:15 PM ET, Saturday, January 11, 2020
Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland
Preview for Digital Sports Desk by Gracenote

BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Ravens are favorites to reach the Super Bowl and it’s easy to see why, beginning with the fact that the team has not lost since September and closed the regular season on a 12-game winning streak en route to an NFL-best 14-2 record. After having a bye in the first round, the Ravens will host the sixth-seeded Tennessee Titans on Saturday night.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson is the consensus choice to win league Most Valuable Player honors after throwing for a league-high 36 touchdown passes and rushing for more than 1,200 yards to ignite an offense that topped the NFL with an average of 33.2 points per game.

“He’s from Mars,” Tennessee defensive tackle Jurrell Casey said of Jackson. “He’s definitely an outer space guy. He’s unbelievable. The stuff that he’s doing so far this season, it’s unreal.”

The Titans know they must keep from Jackson from running wild and their best chance to prevent that is to follow the blueprint from last week’s 20-13 win at New England: feed sledgehammer running back Derrick Henry, the league’s leading rusher.

“I think if (quarterback Ryan) Tannehill tries to pass on us, I don’t think that’ll go in their favor,” Baltimore safety Earl Thomas said. “We know they’re going to try to run the ball.”

TIME: 8:15 p.m. ET. TV: CBS. LINE: Ravens -10. O/U: 46.5

ABOUT THE TITANS (10-7): Tannehill led the NFL in passer rating at 117.5 while throwing for 22 touchdowns and six interceptions during the regular season, but he finished with only 72 yards passing in the win at New England as Henry carried the load. The 6-foot-3, 247-pound Henry ran for 211 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries in the regular-season finale to win the rushing title (1,540) and bulldozed through New England’s defense for 182 yards and a score on 34 carries. Rookie speedster A.J. Brown averaged 20.2 yards on 52 receptions for 1,051 yards and eight touchdowns while Corey Davis was next with 43 catches. The Titans ranked 12th in the league against the run, allowing 104.5 yards per game.

ABOUT THE RAVENS (14-2): Jackson not only rushed for the most yards ever by a quarterback with 1,206, including a record five 100-yard performances, but he was spectacular down the stretch with 25 touchdown passes versus one interception over the final eight games. Baltimore may be even more reliant on Jackson’s legs because 1,000-yard rusher Mark Ingram was limited in practice Thursday due to a calf injury. Jackson’s favorite target is tight end Mark Andrews, who led the team with 64 receptions and 10 touchdowns. Thomas and cornerback Marcus Peters are among a league-high 12 Pro Bowl selections for the Ravens, who ranked in the top five defensively in points (17.6), total yards (300.6) and rushing yards (93.4) allowed.

EXTRA POINTS

  1. The Ravens established an NFL record by averaging 206.0 yards per game.
  2. Henry was limited to 21 yards on seven carries in a 21-0 loss to Baltimore in October 2018.
  3. Ravens WR Marquise Brown had seven touchdown catches, the second highest among league rookies.

PREDICTION: Ravens 30, Titans 16

Brady Back, NE or Bust?

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Tom Brady plans to play football in 2020.

FOXBORO – The 42-year-old quarterback of the New England Patriots gave his strongest indication yet that he’ll be in the NFL next season with an Instagram post on Wednesday detailing his feelings about the future.

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“In both life and football, failure is inevitable,” Brady wrote. “You don’t always win. You can, however, learn from that failure, pick yourself up with great enthusiasm, and place yourself in the arena again. And that’s right where you will find me. Because I know I still have more to prove.”

Brady and the Patriots were bounced from the playoffs last week by the Tennessee Titans, who sealed the 20-13 victory with a pick-6 of Brady by his former teammate, Logan Ryan. After the game Brady sounded like he wanted to continue his career, and he has often repeated his statement that he believes he can play until he’s 45 years old. 

Whether he can extend his 20-year run with the Patriots is another story.

Brady is scheduled to be a free agent for the first time with a deadline of March 17 for the Patriots to put a new contract in place or allow Brady to enter the open market.

Owner Robert Kraft said Monday that he “hopes and prays” Brady plays for the Patriots next season. Head coach Bill Belichick said Sunday in a season-ending press conference that he wasn’t prepared to talk about the future, including Brady, only 12 hours after the playoff loss to the Titans.

Brady and Belichick have won six Super Bowls together.

“I have been blessed to find a career I love, teammates who go to battle with me, an organization that believes in me, and fans who have been behind us every step of the way,” he said. “Every one of us that works at Gillette Stadium strived to do their best, spent themselves at a worthy cause, and prepared to fail while daring greatly. And for that, we’ve been rewarded with something that the scoreboard won’t show — the satisfaction of knowing we gave everything to each other in pursuit of a common goal. That is what team is all about.”

–Field Level Media

Kraft Praying Brady Stays in NE

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Patriots Team Owner Hopes for One More Year of Brady

FOXBORO – A rare first-round loss in the playoffs has the New England Patriots entering the offseason surrounded by unprecedented levels of drama and uncertainty.

At the forefront of discussions about the future in New England for the next three months is whether quarterback Tom Brady will be back with the Patriots for a 21st season.

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Brady said Saturday night in the aftermath of a pick-six that helped the Tennessee Titans close out the Patriots that he considered retirement unlikely.

Head coach Bill Belichick on Sunday said the Patriots weren’t ready to talk about the future 12 hours after the painful postseason loss. But team owner Robert Kraft opened up to Peter King in an interview regarding where Brady could play next season.

“Before the season started,” Kraft said, “it was very important to Tom that he be free to do whatever he wanted at the end of the year. You know what I said to myself? That any person who plays 20 years for this team and helps us get to six Super Bowls, and been really selfless, has earned that right. I love the young man like he’s part of my family. Blood family. Anyone who’s done that has earned the right to control his future after 20 years. And you know, my hope and prayer is No. 1, he play for the Patriots. Or No. 2, he retires. He has the freedom to decide what he wants to do and what’s in his own best personal interest.”

Brady said before the season he planned to explore all opportunities granted by a restructured contract. The Patriots have paid Brady below market value for the position while stockpiling Lombardi trophies. He was 19th among quarterbacks based in annual average value of his contract in 2019.

“If it’s the Patriots, great. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know,” Brady told King. “I just don’t know. I love playing football. I still want to play football. I think I still can play at a championship level. I’ve just got to go do it. I’m motivated to get back to work and training.”

PlaySugarHouse.com and BetRivers.com are not offering futures on where Brady’s next snap will be taken due to regulatory approvals for this class of bets. If approved, they would open with Brady at +140 to play next season for another team and +700 to retire. Brady playing 2020 for the Patriots would be -180.

When Kraft was reminded of the many Hall of Fame quarterbacks to wear multiple jerseys, from Brett Favre to Joe Montana to Dan Marino and Joe Namath, the Patriots’ owner said he’s not ready to see Brady play for another team.

“I’m thinking of all that, of all the quarterbacks who went elsewhere, and I just hope and believe that Tom … he is so special that he’s earned the right to do what’s best for him. But I just hope and pray we fit into his plans,” Kraft said. “He is unique in the kind of leader he is, his work ethic, his selfless nature, everything. Think about it: He’s been with us 20 percent of the life of the NFL.”

–Field Level Media

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