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Tedy Bruschi, a retired New England Patriots linebacker, issued a few words of advice to quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Stidham, a second-year pro, has not seen more than a few minutes of NFL action, but is likely to take over for Tom Brady, a six-time Super Bowl champion who defected this offseason from New England in favor of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Just take care of the football, ” Bruschi told WBZ’s Dan Roche.
Ball security is job security for Patriots players. That will hold especially true for a quarterback like Stidham, who may not be a world-beater in his first year and threw an interception in his only NFL appearance, a blowout win over the New York Jets.
On that note, Bruschi added that the offensive line needs to put increased pressure on itself to succeed and support Stidham. The young quarterback needs to block out the pressure that comes with replacing the greatest quarterback of all time.
“Stidham is going to be fine,” Bruschi said. “He’s got a great mentality. I think it’s something where having a little experience of being with Tom is going to help him and realize, ‘It’s not Tom Brady I’m following, it’s just a buddy of mine and now I’ve got to come in and do the job.’ I think he has the right mentality to do that.”
It’s likely that Stidham will rely heavily upon his running backs to move the chains on offense. But that will likely also ask a great deal of the defense.
“The shift with Tom being gone now is trying to make this a defense-dominated team. They’ll tell you what they feel by what they do,” Bruschi told Roche. “So drafting those great young linebackers (Josh Uche in the second round and Anfernee Jennings in the third round), I was excited to see that.”
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