Seth Wickersham, thank you for joining us, sir.

It's my pleasure, guys. Thanks for having me. Well, I'll tell you this is you've got the town of Blaze, my friend. You got everyone talking. You gave us four hours of radio today, and for that I thank you. My pleasure. You know, all my in-laws live in Boston, so, you know, I texted them last night. I was like, tomorrow might be one of those days you don't want to say you're related to you. that's right you've got to protect yourself

all right so set

uh just I texted them last night. I was like, tomorrow might be one of those days you don't want to say you're related to you. That's right. You've got to protect yourself. All right. So, Seth, the speculation about why now. Like, how did you start hearing about this stuff? When did you realize that there might be some meat to it that you could write an article? Take us through that process. Sure. Well, I wrote an article. I co-authored a story with Tom's You Know

an ESPN magazine cover story in early November about Brady and Garoppolo and TB12.

So it was interesting to dive into that world then. And then right before that story was published

was when, I think the before that story was published,

was when, I think the night before it was published, was when Garoppolo was traded,

and it went counter to everything that I had heard and been told and made, you know,

and it just didn't add up, and it didn't not just add up for me, it didn't add up for people in the building because they were like, this thing came out of nowhere. And why would the game's most shrewd, long-term

strategists trade two backup quarterbacks in a two-month span when your starter is 40 years old

and on the injury report? And that was the question I wanted to answer.

Now, how much blowback did you get to this story while you were talking to the people involved with the Patriots?

Well, blowback, when I was reporting the story, you listen.

You know?

I mean, from asking around, because I know that, you know, there have been people

at the Patriots, like I spoke to people than the Patriots, and they're refuting a lot of

the things you say, obviously, if it's something they don't like or one way or the other,

but it sounds like they're obviously not enjoying this story being out this morning.

Well, you know, that might be the posturing. I think that,

look, this has been brewing for a long time and everybody knows it. And to a certain extent,

it might even be a relief that it's out there and out there more. I mean, you guys have been

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