5 Reasons Why This Will Be the Patriots Last Trip to the Super Bowl for a Long While

1.

Charlie and Romeo Factor —The last time the offensive and defensive coordinators left the same year after a Super Bowl — the 2004 Super Bowl — it took the Patriots three more years to get back to the Super Bowl. The big difference now is Tom Brady is 40 years old.

2.

Gisele Caroline Bündchen — According to press reports, Tom Brady's wife Gisele Bündchen tried to convince her husband to retire from football during this past offseason.  After watching Gronk’s concussion in the AFC Championship and then Brandin Cook’s head injury in the Super Bowl, the pressure on Brady will only increase.

According to Sports Illustrated, Bündchen did it by trying to get Brady’s college teammate and friend Jay Feely to help her during a vacation this past spring.

Feely, a retired NFL kicker, told Sports Illustrated, “She was trying to get me to convince Tom to stop playing. She was dead serious.”

Feely says that he told Brady to "play as long as you can."

This news comes after Bündchen said in a May interview with CBS that Brady had suffered unreported concussions.

3.

Dante Scarnecchia — The Patriots offensive line coach will be 70 years old on February 14. He retired once and was lured back by Bill Belichick. The two-years he was away, the Patriots offensive line was a mess and Brady took a beating. If he goes, Brady’s thought process on retiring may be impacted.

4.

Emily Kelly — A New York Times opinion piece this past week titled, “I’m the Wife of a Former N.F.L. Player. Football Destroyed His Mind. He chose the sport, but he did not choose brain damage,” is a big impact story.

The piece was written by Emily Kelly. She wrote, “My husband, Rob Kelly, is a retired N.F.L. player. After five seasons as a safety beginning in the late 1990s, four with the New Orleans Saints and one with the New England Patriots, he sustained an injury to a nerve between his neck and shoulder during training camp that ended his career. By the time he retired in 2002 at 28, he had been playing tackle football for about two decades. Rob had no idea, however, that all those years of playing would have such serious consequences.

Kelly’s continued, “He went from being a devoted and loving father and husband to someone who felt like a ghost in our home. For a couple of months one winter he was so depressed and detached, he couldn’t muster up the energy to speak. My questions went unanswered until I simply stopped asking them. The silence was unnerving.”

5.

Ever More Fragile Relationship Between Brady and Media — Call it the “WEEI pissant factor.” Despite Brady appearing on WEEI for years via a paid agreement, a WEEI host decided to call Tom Brady’s daughter an unflattering name. Brady was less than pleased.

For Brady, this year’s media relationship transformed from a decade-and-a-half love affair to a strained one.

BONUS

Gronk's Future

Rob Gronkowski may retire. "I don't know how you heard that, but I mean I'm definitely going to look at my future, for sure," Gronkowski said. "I'm going to sit down in the next couple of weeks and see where I'm at."

It is harder to sleep soundly when you don't have your security blanket.