2019 Gordon Watch: Reinstated and It Feels So Good

nattysez

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Curious to see if the kicker is "after a 4-game suspension."

Pretty huge that they are doing this so far before the start of the season.

Edit -- No suspension - he's fully back! Hope he's found a path forward that lets him stay happy and healthy.
 
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bigq

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Great news. Please stay clean, please stay clean, please stay clean...
 

dcmissle

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Just say a prayer for the young man. And if you’re not religious, do something else to support.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Happy for him and the Patriots but all I hope for is that this guy stays clean regardless of whether he plays well or not.
 

Red Averages

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Fantastic news. I'm shocked they did it this early in the offseason. Figured a minimum of 4 game suspension. Hopefully a great sign of changes he's made since his most recent slip up.
 

Reverend

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More evidence that the league is in the bag for the Patriots.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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As a horrible awful Sox season winds down, this is great news and has me even more excited for football to start
 

RoDaddy

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Did not expect anything close to this but it's all good - for him and the team. Obviously a big if, but if he stays clean, this team is up there with the greatest Pat's teams ever
 

GeorgeCostanza

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This makes me happy to no end, whether he produces on the field or not. Fingers crossed for the guy, hopefully he continues to take advantage of all the support the league/team provide to stay clean and happy.
 

BoSox Rule

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If this was any player on any other team somebody would have already pointed out that he’s almost guaranteed to be suspended again by Week 6.
 

chrisfont9

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My mom went from a hopeless alcoholic who I had to drive to a rehab in NH every 6 months or so to clean and sober for the last 10 years of her life before she died.

You can do this, Josh.

One day at a time dude.
This seems like a good way to look at this. He seems to have some sort of deep PTSD from childhood and as a result a long history with various drugs and alcohol, plus a lot of teams enabling him. Not sure what sort of work he's doing on this, but I'm tentatively optimistic?
 

Average Game James

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I don’t care if he has zero receptions and doesn’t play a meaningful down the entire season. Fingers crossed he makes it all year without another relapse. From everything I’ve seen and heard, he seems like a genuinely good human being who just happens to suffer from a terrible disease. Kick ass in life, and if you happen to play some good football at the same time, that’s a huge bonus.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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This makes me happy to no end, whether he produces on the field or not. Fingers crossed for the guy, hopefully he continues to take advantage of all the support the league/team provide to stay clean and happy.
What he said.

I am glad that the league is no longer treating addiction as being on the same scale as PED use, head hunting, or wearing the wrong colored cleats.
 

Al Zarilla

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I don’t care if he has zero receptions and doesn’t play a meaningful down the entire season. Fingers crossed he makes it all year without another relapse. From everything I’ve seen and heard, he seems like a genuinely good human being who just happens to suffer from a terrible disease. Kick ass in life, and if you happen to play some good football at the same time, that’s a huge bonus.
I want him to stay clean AND have a great season catching passes from Tom because that’s what I’m sure he wants.
 

dcmissle

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Curious why you’d say that? I’m not an expert, but I’d imagine structure, goals and resources make dealing with an addiction more manageable than not.
Because his track record seems to be that he’s most vulnerable when facing the pressure of high level competition?
 

Marciano490

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Because his track record seems to be that he’s most vulnerable when facing the pressure of high level competition?
Does it? I mean, he’s a high level athlete and an addict. It seems kind of syllogistic.
 

P'tucket rhymes with...

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Curious why you’d say that? I’m not an expert, but I’d imagine structure, goals and resources make dealing with an addiction more manageable than not.
The actions of the NFL (suspending him last December), suggest that he's at best 7 months clean and sober. It's been a (long) while since I've worked with substance dependent clients with any regularity, but given his history, coming back after a seven month hiatus seems...quick. I was sort of assuming the NFL would say no this time around, and tell him to try again at the one-year mark.

Re: your observation, structure, goals and resources are always good, but if he and his treatment team have been approaching this appropriately, those things are already there for him (just not in a football context). In that instance, I'd be concerned about the possibility that high-stakes football acts as a trigger for him rather than a stabilizing force.

Having said that, I'm rooting for him, and the NFL docs obviously have more information than the public does--maybe they found something that works well for him on the mental health side that mitigates some of the ongoing risk on the substance abuse side of his picture. Of all the players that get tossed for various reasons, he comes across as one of the more sympathetic figures.