Let's all break down photos of Tom Brady's gloved throwing hand
On a cold winter day in Massachusetts, a man wore gloves outside.
You wouldn’t think that would be a viral story, but this one involves Tom Brady and the notoriously tight-lipped New England Patriots. Brady suffered a right hand injury on Wednesday, and while everyone reported that it didn’t seem like a big deal, it’s not perfect for a quarterback to injure his throwing hand a few days before the AFC championship game.
The good news for Patriots fans: Brady was at practice Thursday (however, the Patriots noted after practice that he did not participate, which can’t be a great sign). The bad (?) news: He was wearing gloves on both hands.
We were reminded that wearing a glove on his throwing hand isn’t Brady’s preference.
Tom Brady (from Dec. 29, 2017, on how he feels about wearing gloves during games with the weather in mind): "Early in my career I tried using a glove on my throwing hand a little bit. It didn’t go too well. I think it’s better without."
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) January 18, 2018
There were pictures of the gloves, and analysis from Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.
#tb12 Tom Brady wears a glove on his injured throwing hand as he speaks with backup Brian Hoyer @Patriots practice. #bostonherald pic.twitter.com/FchnDWfFzB
— Matt West (@westipix) January 18, 2018
Scrolled through a number of @westipix photos from today’s practice. Hard to tell if there’s a splint or tape on the thumb, or if the light accentuated the knuckle in a previous photo, or if the glove just isn’t broken in yet. Thumb looks normal here. pic.twitter.com/LYgt3EasCz
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) January 18, 2018
However, it looks like there could be something over the lower knuckle of the thumb here. pic.twitter.com/M9lG3Gu4EI
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) January 18, 2018
Another from @westipix, the thumb looks normal here. pic.twitter.com/CYXIwfX3pO
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) January 18, 2018
It all seems a little humorous to break down Brady and the various details concerning his gloves and his hand, but it is a big deal. Maybe. If Brady is injured and can’t play like he usually does, that’s a major story as he prepares to go against the Jacksonville Jaguars and their top-ranked pass defense. And the other part of it is if Brady really is hindered, we probably won’t hear about it before kickoff. The Patriots don’t divulge injury information very often, and it’s unlikely they’d suddenly do so on this Brady injury. Brady has often been listed on the injury report and aside from his ACL injury in 2008, he has always played.
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So we’re very unlikely to get a solid answer on Brady’s hand and how much it’s affecting him until he starts throwing passes against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. Until then, we’ll keep trying to find clues in those pictures.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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