Bickering aside, just watching him play several times, it appeared to me that he was somewhat aloof and not really engaged. I also read a few comments from Brady that seemed to insinuate that Dobson was not taking his job/development very seriously.
Bickering aside, I defer to you and others... I couldn't say if he seemed aloof and not really engaged. But, no bickering intended, the Boston Herald article (see other thread) seems to share some information that somehow evaded me, and might explain how a person might be a little distracted.
I would like to see the Brady comments, since that too, somehow evaded me... the most I could find was this, and truly, even if one assumes Brady is specifying the WR position, which he doesn't, it seems a bit of a stretch that he's calling out any one WR in his quote:
http://www.sportsworldreport.com/articles/34410/20141001/patriots-rumors-tom-brady-questions-brandon-lafell-danny-amendola-aaron-dobson-talent-julian-edelman-rob-gronkowski-bill-belichick-offense.htmAnd fwiw, the statement made by Belichick was about as firm as you can make a statement:
"In written statement issued after his terse exchange with the media, Belichick — or whichever New England media relations rep wrote the press release for him — went into greater detail, saying that Dobson “has always been respectful to me and to the rest of the coaching staff. He has never once been argumentative or confrontational,” and condemning rumors of the “loud disagreement” with McDaniels as “completely false.”
Acknowledged that coaches can say whatever they want to say. But, let's be fair... reporters can say whatever they want to say, too. It's always been "rumors."
I think, especially in light of what the Boston Herald article conveys, the first people to give Aaron Dobson the benefit of a doubt ought to be you and me... us... all of us.
And sorry, but I'm suddenly even more a little suspicious of people who claim to have insider knowledge. I can't imagine that a mother who would affirm the rumors wouldn't also make mention of how hard AD's had it emotionally having lost two people close to him. That just doesn't seem to be the kind of thing a mother would leave out of a conversation on the topic. But maybe that's just me being overly skeptical, who knows.