NFL Rumors: Tom Brady’s Public Tongue-Lashing Of Receivers May Have Been A Ploy To Get Antonio Brown Back

Tom Brady had an uncharacteristic outburst during the New England Patriots‘ loss on Sunday night to the Houston Texans, delivering a tongue-lashing to his wide receivers in full view of television cameras.

One sports pundit thinks that the incident was no accident and was actually intended to serve a bigger purpose — making team owner Robert Kraft realize that the team needs to bring back Antonio Brown.

Brady’s receivers struggled in the Patriots’ 28-22 loss to the Texans, failing to get separation and leading Brady to an unusually high number of aborted plays and thrown-away passes. As Jason Whitlock speculated on FS1’s Speak for Yourself, Brady may be yearning for a reunion with the former All Pro who spent one game with the team earlier in the season.

“I’m not saying this as a negative. I just think this guy’s brilliant,” Whitlock said, via NESN.

“But I think his words to (Julian) Edelman and (Phillip) Dorsett were calculated, just like I think the little postgame press conference a couple of weeks ago when he was all sad and wouldn’t answer questions, it was all calculated.”

Whitlock went on to say that Brady was trying to “scream” to owner Robert Kraft that Edelman and Dorsett are not getting any faster and that it’s time for the team to bring back Brown. He added that Brown seems to want back in as well, noting that he had been tweeting about a possible return to the Patriots.

The actual prospect of Brown returning could be tricky, however. He left the team under a storm of controversy, with a series of accusations of sexual misconduct and allegations that he sent an intimidating text message to one of the women — while he was inside the Patriots’ team facility. Brown then launched into a Twitter attack that appeared to take a shot at Kraft allegedly soliciting a prostitute.

As The Inquisitr reported, there did seem to be reports of a potential reunion between Brown and the Patriots, but only if Kraft could sign off on the move. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports notes that many of New England’s “players and coaches would welcome him back,” though didn’t indicate where Kraft stood on the idea.

The sentiment could change if the Patriots continue to struggle. The team has dropped two out of its last four and is now just one game ahead of the Buffalo Bills for the division lead, with an offense that has sputtered at times.