Crazy theory as to why Brady stayed in

Some wiseacres have already gone on the 'they ran up the score' rant, to which I respond that the total number of points actually can determine your playoff chances. So nyeah.

However, I want to address the 'Brady was left in too late' argument instead. Here's my crazy theory: the back-up QB Brian Hoyer (how many people could have named him yesterday?) was standing out in the snow, freezing, for the entire first half. So he's probably cold. Then they went into the warm locker room at halftime. They came back out, and he was still not ready to come in because when would he have warmed up? In a pinch situation, he could have been ready more quickly, but why not allow him the time to warm up properly? Instead, they put Brady in for the first drive since he was acclimatized, then put in Hoyer for the rest of the game after he had a chance to adapt.

But of course, for some, this was a vanity move by Brady, because his whole goal yesterday was to tie the all-time TD in one game record, then back off before he actually set a new high. Because that's practically the same thing, right?

Kevin O'Connell waived

In a surprise move, Kevin O'Connell, 2nd QB who kind of looked like Tom Brady, was cut.

Not traded. Cut.

Some people have expressed surprise about this since even though he looked awful against the Redskins on Friday, we have a tradition of keeping those guys around. Consider how Matt Cassel looked last pre-season, then everything turned out to be okay. But apparently not with O'Connell (although he looked seriously bad on Friday night...two interceptions in two straight drives is not exactly promising).

This move has lead to speculation that the Patriots might acquire an experienced QB as back-up. It could also be noted that we already have two other QBs, Andrew Walter and Brian Hoyer. Walter is experienced, coming to us from the Raiders.

At least one commenter on Reiss' blog also assumed that Brady's shoulder injury is far more serious and he isn't going to play, so we need an experienced QB now. Panic mode comes to the Patriots and we haven't even started the season yet!