Why was Tom Brady not on the sideline?

You might have noticed that Tom Brady wasn't on the sideline with his teammates during the Patriots 27-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Brady wasn't active for the game, but you saw plenty of other players who weren't active sitting on the sideline too.

What's the reason for that? ESPNBoston's Mike Reiss has one theory.

ESPNBoston

While some players who didn’t play were dressed on the sideline, Brady wasn’t one of them. Just a guess, but this could be a similar situation to 2008, when Brady was injured and wasn’t on the sideline as the club transitioned to backup Matt Cassel. That was believed to be a directive from Bill Belichick so Brady wouldn’t become a focal point of media attention on the sideline.

Personally, I don't think its a big deal. However, a lot of Patriots fans will make something out of this. For one, you cannot accuse Tom Brady of being a bad teammate. If you listen to any interviews with teammates both former and current, there is no evidence to support that. For that reason, I'd have to go with Mike Reiss' theory. This must've been a directive from the hoodie himself.