“Did you see the merchandise sales data in Haverhill, Joel?”

Tom Brady mania isn’t just in Florida.

Joe wrote this week about national TV executives getting whipped into a frenzy about night games when The Goat signed with the Bucs. But it wasn’t all about primetime contests under the lights. A long piece in Boston.com makes it clear that there was a coordinated effort to make sure the Bucs and Patriots didn’t in the same window.

“We also know that they don’t play a game the same time as the Patriots until Week 15, when the Patriots visit the Dolphins and the Bucs are at the Falcons, with both slated for 1 p.m. kickoffs. The only later overlap is in Week 17, when the Patriots host the Jets and the Bucs host the Falcons, again at 1 p.m.

… …There’s the small possibility that a Bucs game gets cross-flexed from Fox to CBS, the AFC rights holder. In 2014, the league introduced this process that allows a select number of games that would have typically aired on Fox or CBS to be aired on the other Sunday afternoon network. That means that an all-AFC matchup could air on Fox, an all-NFC game could appear on CBS, and I’ll get a barrage of emails asking why this is happening. Cross-flexing needs a better publicist.

The big spotlights are starting to overwhelm Joe, who has very simple goals right now. Tops on the list is finding a way to at least a 3-  record while opening at the Saints, then home for the Panthers, at Denver, home for the Chargers and at Chicago on a short week on Thursday Night Football.