Former New England Patriots tight end Christian Fauria unloaded on Tom Brady Thursday while speaking on WEEI. And he pulled no punches:
“They’re better off without him,” Fauria said on the radio station. “Can I tell you why? And it has nothing to do with Brady’s skill set. It’s not because he’s not good or he can’t throw it or he’s lost some speed on his fastball. It’s because where he was in his career, his age, what he wanted to achieve and what the Patriots were trying to achieve were completely different. So it was never going to work out. They were never going to see eye to eye.”
Fauria played four seasons with the Patriots, catching 79 passes for 790 yards and 13 touchdowns from 2002-05.
“This offense is not going to be able to move forward with Brady as the quarterback, not because he sucks. Those throwaways were important. It’s because he wasn’t willing to adapt. There’s the difference. He wasn’t willing to let N’Keal Harry grow.”
So, Brady would actually be holding back this offense?
“Yes. Indirectly, yes,” Fauria added. “Now you can put some blame on Josh McDaniels. You can put some blame on Bill. They were just ready to change. A veteran quarterback who wants to win and throw the football and is not willing to take risks and doesn’t want his stats being messed with and won’t throw interceptions and would rather throw it out of bounds, that’s the guy that is going to delay the development of your star wide receiver who you won’t throw the ball to because you don’t trust him because he doesn’t have a long enough track record.
“This year. Right now, the offense is better off with Tom Brady. They are better off without him this year, yes.”
Eventually, Fauria tried to couch his comments …
“I don’t think Brady is a bad quarterback,” he said. “I think he is going to win the MVP with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think he is going to win the Comeback Player of the Year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think he is going to win the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With a veteran group that is already established that doesn’t need a lot of time to get going. Can you imagine Brady right now trying to do what he did last year this year with less time together and still knowing the window is closing on his career and the Patriots are taking a different direction? The fact is that he is not going to be able to evolve and grow. He’s going to have an anchor around him and that’s going to be not get in trouble, don’t throw picks. And it has nothing to do with his ability. I feel the where the Patriots are they are better off — even though I don’t think Stidham is a good quarterback — without him this year.”