Take Me (uh Tom Brady) To The River(s)

I nearly [crapped] myself when I heard of the contract extension that Philip Rivers signed with the Chargers. - $92 million for 6 years!!!!! Although it shouldn't have surprised me after Eli (the OTHER) Manning signed a 6 year $97 million extension and Ben Roethlisberger signed an 8 year $102 million deal.... WTF ?!?!?!?!?

With all due respect to these 3 "amigos" (and I MAY be a bit partial here) but none of you can lace up Tom Terrific's (Patriots QB Tom Brady) shoulder pads... ok, I KNOW their pads don't have laces but, you get the message. And I'll put my money on Brady either on the gridiron or in front of the camera ANYTIME !!!!!!!!!!

Obviously their respective owners feel that this is the "going rate" for a franchise quarterback. I can certainly respect that but has ANY of them personally brought home THREE Super Bowl trophies ?!?!?! Hmmmm, history tells me that the 3 of them COMBINED have won 3 trophies.... Roth has 2 (and 1 motorcycle accident).... Eli has the lone 1, which SHOULD have been Brady's 4th !!!! .... In any event, Rivers HAS NONE !!!!!

Let's take this further... Tom Brady's career QB rating is 92.9 ... This is the 3rd best amongst active slingers and 4th overall lifetime.... Roth's rating is 89.4, Manning's is 76.1.... Rivers' rating is 92.9 - like Brady's... BUT, NO SUPER BOWLS !!

Although Brady is 5 years the elder of these other MEGA-million dollar arms, he is also a victim of the times... He's currently under a 6 year deal that ends after 2010... his official salary listed as $8 million this year.... half that of his contemporaries. ALTHOUGH, the Patriots routinely "massage" his contract in order to remain under the salary cap of the league...

So what does the future hold ??... the ante has been upped... for Tom Brady, a LOT of money... for the Patriots???? Can they afford to re-sign Tom Terrific???? They "fight" the salary cap annually - let alone adding ANOTHER $5-$10 million for a Brady extension.... ESPECIALLY if Tom brings another title home over the next 2 years.... albeit, Tom will be 34 at that time, he's going to double his salary... SOMEWHERE !!!! And if Tom leaves New England, I imagine it could cause a ripple effect.....

Of course Tom has been diplomatic, as always, in interviews concerning this subject.... but you KNOW what's in the back of his mind... wouldn't it be on yours.. he even "alluded" to being under-paid - and of course then joked that aren't we ALL under-paid.... uh, YES I AM !!!!!

Can they afford NOT to re-sign him ???... having given Matt Cassell away in the off-season??? WHO will lead the Pats if/when Brady finds his pot of gold elsewhere?!?!?!

I don't envy Mr Kraft in the very least here. I can only hope that there is a plan as I personally have become accustomed to the Patriots winning after YEARS of seasons of them playing 1-13 or so, ball.

Either way, I'm a fan for life and am looking forward to September 14th and the 20 weeks that follow...

AND, it's WAY more fun when they win.....

Nuf Ced

*QB ratings, salary numbers provided by NFL.com