As any self-respecting Patriots fan knows, the team has taken the field for home games at Gillette Stadium to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” for years.

This offseason has been one wild ride.

Just how strange has this offseason been at One Patriot Place?

In a winter (and spring) of Patriots discontent, “Tom Terrific” turned into “Tommy Turmoil,” leading some to wonder if Bill Belichick’s dynasty might be going off the rails.

Yes, at the center of it all, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr., the ultimate Patriot, stirred up a slew of questions, not the least of which being his relationship with the head coach, how much longer the franchise quarterback intends to continue to play, and the Hall of Famer in waiting’s overall dedication to the game as his 19th NFL season nears.

Of course, the final act heading into the offseason was no less bizarre, cornerback Malcolm Butler’s mysterious benching playing a role (some would say costing the Patriots the game) in their 41-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.

Maillot New England Patriots,Moving on into the offseason, when asked by his Westwood One interviewer Jim Gray during a sitdown chat at the Milken Institute Global Conference on April 30 if he felt appreciated by the Patriots – an obvious reference to his wife Gisele Bundchen’s comment during the “Tom vs. Time” documentary that aired on Facebook Watch that her husband just wanted to go to work and “feel appreciated” – Brady replied: “I plead the Fifth.”

More recently, when asked about retirement during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired on her television network OWN on June 17, Brady admitted: “I think about it more now than I used to. I think now I’m seeing there’s definitely an end coming sooner rather than later.”

The plot thickened days later when Brady took to Instagram to write “cuarenta y cinco” (Spanish for 45).

So there you have it. Brady’s playing until he’s 45. Or not.

While the “sooner rather than later” comment is rather obvious for a guy who will turn 41 on Aug. 3, the Patriots’ organized team activities in Foxboro – or, in Brady’s case, the non-activities – it only added to the offseason’s intrigue and controversy (as if that was needed).

All of this transpired, mind you, in the aftermath of reports of friction between Belichick and Brady over the latter’s personal trainer and business partner, Alex Guerrero, whose approach to exercise doesn’t align with that of the Patriots’ training staff.

Interestingly enough, Brady, who in offseasons past earned the reputation of being a workout warrior, chose not to skip all of the team’s voluntary sessions this year, his lone interaction with the entire team and its coaching staff coming during the Patriots’ mandatory three-day mini-camp in June.

Funny, but there didn’t seem to be much defiance to Brady’s persona when Jimmy Garoppolo, a 20-something-year-old with a future in the game, was lurking over his right shoulder. That, of course, was prior to last Oct. 31 when Garoppolo was sent packing, shipped to San Francisco for a second-round draft pick in a deal that, to this day, still appears to be someone’s idea of a Halloween prank in New England.

The problems in this offseason of discontent have not been limited to Brady, however.

Five-time Pro Bowl tight end Rob Gronkowski, another team captain, was also a no-show at OTAs and took to social media to author a series of cryptic measures, not the least of which was one sent to Danny Amendola urging the wide receover to “Be FREE” and “Be HAPPY” after he’d left New England to sign with Miami as an unrestricted free agent.

All this is the aftermath of that Super Bowl loss when Gronkowski indicated that he was uncertain of his future in football.

In our most recent episode, during the team’s mini-camp, which was also the only time he practiced in Foxboro this offseason, Gronkowski admitted he’d like a new contract (he’s signed through 2019), one that would no doubt boost the $8 million base salary he is to earn this year.

And amidst all of that, there was 49ers defensive end Cassius Marsh, a player who spent his first four seasons in the league with three different teams (including a stint with the Patriots last year), telling the San Francisco Chronicle: “They don’t have fun there. There’s nothing fun about it. There’s nothing happy about it. I didn’t enjoy any of my time there, you know what I’m saying? It made me for the first time in my life think about not playing football because I hated it that much.″

Of course, Marsh’s performance here made the Patriots quickly realize the trade they’d made with Seattle to acquire him last Sept. 2 was a mistake. They waived him after he’d contributed all of 16 tackles and one sack in nine games.

Even the apparent best of times this offseason have turned bad, minicamp concluding with the news that wide receiver Julian Edelman, who missed all of 2017 after tearing his ACL in the preseason, had been hit with a four-game suspension for violating the league policy on performance enhancing substances.

And that’s not to even to speak of the incident involving safety Duron Harmon, a first-time team captain in 2017, one that saw him turned away from Costa Rica when he tried to sneak marijuana into the country.

Will the developments of this past offseason lead to a true “off” season, one in which the Patriots’ streak of AFC East championships and postseason appearances (nine each) comes to an unceremonious end?

Now that would truly be bizarre.

Même le meilleur des temps apparent ce intersaison ont tourné mal, Minicamp concluant avec les nouvelles que le récepteur Wide Julian Edelman, qui a manqué tous les 2017 après avoir déchiré son ACL dans la pré-saison, avait été frappé par une suspension de quatre matchs pour violation de la politique de la Ligue sur les substances améliorant les performances.

Et ce n'est pas à même de parler de l'incident impliquant la sécurité Duron Harmon, un capitaine de l'équipe pour la première fois en 2017, celui qui l'a vu détourné du Costa Rica quand il a essayé de se faufiler de la marijuana dans le pays.

Est-ce que les développements de ce passé intersaison conduire à une véritable "OFF" saison, l'un dans lequel les patriotes'strie des Championnats de l'est AFC et playoffs apparences (neuf chacun) vient à une fin sans cérémonie?

Maintenant, ce serait vraiment bizarre.