Tom Brady's absence from the Patriots a bit of a mystery

Jimmy Garoppolo is in the quarterback meeting room with Tom Brady just every day, and if anyone on the team knew why the New England Patriots star was missing on Sunday and Monday, it would probably be Garoppolo.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Garoppolo told WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan with Minihane,” via NESN. “It’s kind of like the game day, I thought he was going to start. … It’s just kind of how we roll around here though, you never know when your number is going to be called, you’ve always got to be ready, and it worked out pretty well.”

Garoppolo’s “game day” reference was about last week’s preseason game, when he assumed Brady would start, but then Brady was suddenly scratched after cutting his thumb with scissors.

Brady wasn’t at the Patriots’ first preseason game either. He was attending memorial services for a family member, the team said. Because of the thumb injury, it’s possible he won’t play at all this preseason.

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The absences on Sunday and Monday were excused and not injury-related, CSN New England’s Tom Curran reported. He also said no reason was given for the absences and — sit down, because this will shock you — Patriots coach Bill Belichick wouldn’t say anything about why Brady might be gone or if even confirm the absences were excused.

“No, I don’t comment on any personal situations,” Belichick said, according to Mike Giardi of CSNNE.

What if Brady can’t play at all this preseason?

“We’ll take it day to day, week to week,” Belichick said, according to the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin.

Maybe Brady is at practice on Tuesday, plays in the third preseason game and then quietly starts his four-game suspension after sitting out the preseason finale. But is this all a bit odd? Sure. “Obviously unusual” is what Curran wrote about Brady’s absences this month. Tom’s son John’s birthday is Aug. 22, so that might be a reason for him missing practice. It’s not like Brady is going to play in the first four weeks of the regular season anyway.

But as with most things concerning the Patriots, there’s probably an easy explanation and the team is guarding it like a state secret. So that leads to a bit of mystery surrounding Brady not being at practice. We’ll just have to see what happens the rest of this week.