Is Josh Gable the Ultimate New England Patriot?
“Viral video” can cut both ways. Inside of a week, the New England Patriots have seen click-bait culture sensationalize a football-adjacent film production into the second coming of Spygate, and responded with what could turn out to be the greatest PR coup in history – and/or a personnel move for the ages – by tapping the very zeitgeist simultaneously burning them.
In signing YouTube phenomenon Josh Gable, the Patriots have wrested meaningful newsfeed real estate from the espionage narrative, replacing “8 minutes of sideline video” with “8 consecutive 65 yard field goals” on screens across the nation. And they may also have shrewdly bolstered their paper-thin placekicking unit, though it’s hard to see Gable supplanting the iron-stomached Nick Folk (barring a re-ruptured appendix, of course).
Is this the epitome of Belichick genius? (Could Belichick correctly use the phrase “YouTube sensation” in a sentence?) A coincidence? A little of both? Rest assured, if Josh Gable kicks a 65 yarder to send Lamar Jackson and the Ravens home hungry, we’ll have our answer.
