Tom Brady isn’t allowed to show his face at Gillette Stadium over the next four weeks, but he’ll certainly be there in spirit.
The New England Patriots made sure of that immediately. Early Sunday morning, just hours after Brady’s four-game suspension officially began Saturday afternoon, the team directed everyone’s attention to a certain stadium alteration:
There’s no text description accompanying this tweet, but in this case, pictures say a thousand words. The Patriots plastered giant images of their All-Pro quarterback on both sides of the stadium’s lighthouse, while also dislpaying Brady’s number at the top of the massive structure.
It’s yet another gesture of New England’s ongoing support for Brady during the Deflategate saga; the team’s official Twitter handle also is a photo of Brady’s jersey, another social media sign of solidarity with TB12.
There’s a good chance New England keeps Brady’s likeness up until he returns in Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns, in which case the Patriots literally will be playing in his shadow. That might be a little disconcerting for replacement starter Jimmy Garoppolo, but it’s hard to fault the team for standing behind its man.