While the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick offered scant information about the status of quarterback Tom Brady’s right shoulder yesterday, a source close to the team said “there is no need for hysteria’’ and that the shoulder, which absorbed the brunt of a blow from Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth Friday, is sore but that it appears Brady will be fine.
The source said there shouldn’t be a lot of angst about Brady’s health because “there are not any concerns’’ at this time.
Brady, who played six series in the Patriots’ 27-24 victory over the Redskins, was expected to participate in the second half. But he did not play another down after Haynesworth drove him into the FedEx Field turf shoulder-first and then landed on top of him with the full force of his 6-foot-6-inch, 350-pound frame on a third-down incompletion with 2:05 left in the half.
Tight end Chris Baker helped Brady up by the right arm and the franchise QB walked to the sideline, where television cameras caught him rotating the shoulder. The Patriots didn’t get the ball back in the half, although Brady was throwing warm-up passes as Washington was driving.
He came out for the second half and threw again, but retreated to the locker room for the rest of the game, his night done after going 12 of 19 for 150 yards with two touchdowns in his most reassuring performance yet as he returns from the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament tears that cost him the 2008 season.
However, Brady’s shoulder overshadowed his performance.
The team announced during the second half that Brady had a “sore shoulder’’ and after the game Belichick said he didn’t pull Brady any earlier than planned.
Belichick repeated that yesterday and also hinted that Brady would not play against the Giants in the final exhibition game Thursday, so the team could look at the quarterbacks behind him.
“I’m saying that we made the decision to play other quarterbacks in the second half of the Washington game because we wanted to see them play, and that will be the same situation [in] the Giants game,’’ said Belichick. “Tom had a desire to play, but we made a football decision to play other players because I think we need to see other players at that position and make an evaluation there.’’
Belichick would not directly answer when asked whether Brady had X-rays on the shoulder.
“I’m not really comfortable getting into a public diagnosis of anything,’’ said Belichick.
“Look, we played a physical game against a very physical team. I’m sure at the end of the game a lot of guys were sore and had bumps and bruises. Everybody that played in the game would fall into that category, so that’s pretty normal after a game like that.’’
