Tom Brady’s hilarious roast another sad reminder of how far the Patriots have fallen

Sadly, Sunday night’s Netflix roast of Tom Brady was the most entertaining action for the Patriots since, well, TB12 took his talents to Tampa Bay and fast-tracked the tear-down of the New England dynasty.

On the surface, Patriot Nation seemingly ate up the three-hour streaming special that more than lived up to its billing as the GROAT – The Greatest Roast Of All Time.

It was a who’s who, combining living Patriots football history with comedic giants, including host Kevin Hart and fictional funnyman newscaster Ron Burgundy.

Nothing, apparently, was off limits other than the lone lame-ass moment of the night when Brady interceded after roast assassin Jeff Ross took advantage of the lowest of funny-man fruit available at the expense of New England owner Robert Kraft who was on hand at the Kia Forum.

Otherwise, everything and anything you might expect to get made fun of in regards to Brady, Bill Belichick and a litany of former New England stars was fair game. Divorce. Scandal. Sex of all kinds. Feuds. Power struggles.
It was all very much two feet in bounds.

It was raunchy. It was shocking at times. It might have made Archie Bunker blush. And it was hilarious!

So, why the sorta sad face this Monday morning in May?

Well, this massive streaming event – which is being far better received than “The Dynasty” docu-series this winter on Apple TV+ -- was another reminder of what New England football once was. And now very much isn’t.

The good ol’ days, where actually great ol’ days. They obviously included the greatest on-field run of any team in football history, six Super Bowl rings to show for it.

But way more than that the Patriots were once the most entertaining, polarizing, noteworthy team in all of professional sports.

Americans once upon a time fell into two very distinct and separate categories. You were either a passionate Patriots fan or hated the Brady and Belichick-led team. It was a simple truth from Portland to Provincetown and everywhere in between.

The Patriots were the centerpiece of the NFL. The measuring stick. The headline act and villain all rolled into one. The protagonist and antagonist, depending on your perspective.

New England once entertained us all in both expected and unexpected ways, for both fans and haters alike, on a yearly and year-round basis.

Now, not so much.

Sure, there is newfound hope this spring in Patriot Nation. The Jerod Mayo era is underway! Love is in the air inside Gillette Stadium.
Eliot Wolf chose Drake Maye as the chosen one to build the franchise’s future around. Javon Baker is a social media noisemaker.

And maybe it will all work. Maybe we’re in the infancy of a new age of interest and entrainment in New England, the dark, dismal, boring, hopeless days of the Mac Jones era and Belichick burnout behind us all.

But Sunday night we were reminded that the star power in Patriot Nation, the real entertainment value in New England football still unfortunately lies with Brady, Belichick, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and bygone era of greatness.

Thanks to Netflix we all returned to the Patriots glory days for a few hours, even if they were shredded to comedic pieces in all their inglorious greatness. As bright as the future in Foxborough Maye be, we were reminded that we’re not there yet. Not even close.

Boom, roasted.