Patriots arsenal: Tom Brady, Brandin Cooks ‘building up a rapport’

The New England Patriots rewarded Tom Brady with an early birthday gift with the addition of explosive wide receiver Brandin Cooks this offseason.

Newly-acquired wide receiver Brandin Cooks has come as advertised so far in training camp.  His explosiveness and athleticism has already been on display during practice.  Most importantly, he is developing some chemistry with the New England Patriots ageless wonder, Tom Brady.

The 40-year-old quarterback took a few minutes to address the media following Friday’s scrimmage.

Amongst the topics of conversation were his wife’s comments regarding his past concussion issues, the possibility of playing well into his 40s and the addition of Cooks, who has already impressed.

"“He’s been great,” Brady said when asked about his new deep threat, via WEEI.  “I mean, just so fun to be with, so fun to work with, comes in every day with a great attitude and wants to work hard and is unselfish and been out here every day practicing and working on different things.  He and I are building up a rapport, but that takes a lot of time to be built.”"

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That is music to Patriots fans ears.  Cooks brings an element to New England’s offense that has been missing since the days of Randy Moss.  The 23-year-old Cooks is not quite the athletic freak Moss was as far as size goes, but his speed and athleticism could be scary in a Tom Brady led attack.

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Oh…so amazing

Those attributes were on display on Friday.  Cooks had one catch in the scrimmage, but boy did he make it count.  The Patriots new receiver reached over Stephon Gilmore in triple coverage to haul in a nice 40-yard reception.

The play left observers in awe and left Tom Brady marveling at his new weapon.

"“That was a great catch,” Brady said.  “You know, I tried to draw them offsides and we got them, so it was kind of a free play. I think I’ve seen some other teams do that.  To make a 50-yard play, or however far that was, was a big play, but those are the kind of plays we need.  If we can build those things into our offense and make some of those down-the-field plays, that takes some more pressure off other parts of the offense.”"

The down-the-field plays Brady is referring to did happen during times last season.  Chris Hogan, who was new to the offense, made quite a few deep plays.

This season, with Brandin Cooks added to the arsenal, New England Patriots fans can expect to see more long-yardage plays, especially if Brady and Cooks are on the same page.

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All I can say is if that does happen, defenses around the league are in serious trouble.  If this team gets Cooks going, along with Julian Edelman, Malcolm Mitchell, Chris Hogan, a healthy Rob Gronkowski and a group of talented pass-catching running backs, Mr. Brady will be hard to stop…even at the age of 40.