Could Tom Brady's Career Be Over?

On Sept. 7, 2008, Tom Brady was hit by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Bernard Pollard. With the hit that was made to Brady's knee, the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligaments were torn.

Most of the time when a player tears his ACL, the athlete's season is instantly over, and that is the terrible truth. Brady's season was over. The hit also caused the New England Patriots playoff hopes to be shown the front door.

Usually when players have an ACL and MCL tears, they need to have surgery on the knee to reconstruct it. That is exactly what Brady had done. On Oct. 6, he went to Los Angeles and had the surgery preformed by a family-trusted doctor by the name of Dr. Neal ElAttrache. He is one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the world.

Although team officials wanted Brady to have the surgery in Boston, Brady's decision was to get it done in Los Angeles. Defying the teams wishes, that’s where he got it done.

Brady has been dealing with a "septic joint" since he had the surgery in his left knee. In the past seven days, the knee was washed out multiple times, according to NFL sources, who cite this treatment as a "typical" way to clear out an infection. When doctors wash out a septic joint, the action must be done two or three times to help clear out the infection.

On his website, Brady confirmed he underwent a procedure Oct. 15 "to clean out and  to test the wound." He is also being treated with a six-week course of IV antibiotics.

I'm sure you're asking yourself, "Well, if this is happening, when will Brady be back?"

Well, the answer is if the IV antibiotics do not work or the infection was found critically late, the graft that was used to reconstruct the ACL could have been compromised. Even though fans won't like to hear this, that means Brady will have to have the reconstructive surgery redone.

The most likely scenario is this will delay Brady's rehab by a couple of months. This infection could create long-lasting knee problems for Brady. His future hinges on what kind of bacteria caused the infection.

Right now, no one knows when Brady will return to the playing field. The experts on ESPN are saying that this is a huge setback for him. Some experts are saying Brady's career might be over, but all we can do is wait and see if that is the terrible truth.

Josh Sawyer has a nightly blog at www.myspace.com/sawyerthesportsblogger.