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For Tom Brady, the end game has become apparent


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For Tom Brady, the end game has become apparent  
By Ben Volin  | globe staff   September 30, 2014

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The two loudest statements in Monday night’s 41-14 debacle against the Chiefs came without any words being said.

The first came when rookie backup Jimmy Garoppolo tossed a touchdown pass with 7:25 left in a blowout loss. Coming off the field, Garoppolo got some pats on the head from teammates and had a nice conversation with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Rob Gronkowski sought out Garoppolo, interrupted his conversation with McDaniels, and gave him congratulations for throwing his first career NFL touchdown.

But not everyone was outwardly happy for the kid.

Tom Brady gave passive high-fives to the other offensive players coming off the field — Gronk, Julian Edelman, the offensive linemen — but stayed clear of Garoppolo. Brady didn’t offer him any congratulations or daps.

 

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When they returned to the bench, McDaniels sat in between them — Brady on the bench, Garoppolo on a water cooler. The two quarterbacks didn’t appear to speak. Brady watched the rest of the game silently with his arms folded, with no teammate coming within 20 feet of him.

The second statement came in the postgame press conference. Coach Bill Belichick was asked if he would “consider evaluating the quarterback position” this week after Brady turned in his fourth bad game in a row, throwing for 159 measly yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in the loss that dropped the Patriots to a surprising 2-2.

Belichick stared down the reporter, smirked, and moved on to the next question.

So, no, there isn’t a quarterback controversy in Foxborough this week. Obviously, one bad game — even one bad four-game stretch — isn’t enough to have Belichick consider taking Brady out and putting in Garoppolo.

Nor should he, of course.

Garoppolo had good numbers — 6 of 7 for 70 yards and a touchdown to Gronk — but it came in garbage time. Garoppolo is still only nine months removed from playing mid-level college football, and needs more time to marinate. Brady still gives this team the best chance to win each week.

But it’s time to start wondering if the clock is running out on Brady’s Patriots tenure a lot more quickly than we thought. He says he wants to play well into his 40s, but the way he has opened the 2014 season, the Patriots look smarter each day for drafting Garoppolo in the second round this past May.

Everything should be on the table now with Brady and the Patriots, if Belichick truly wants to do what’s best for the team, as he constantly stresses.

Brady will be 38 next Aug. 3, and his contract is insanely team-friendly — if he is on the Patriots’ roster on the final game of 2014, his salaries for 2015 ($7 million), 2016 ($8 million), and 2017 ($9 million) become fully guaranteed, but at less than half the going rate of top-tier NFL quarterbacks ($20-plus million). That’s cheap money for the Patriots, but it’s also cheap money for a team desperate for a quarterback — like, say, Houston, where the coach (Bill O’Brien) is a close ally. Or, say, Tampa Bay, where the general manager (Jason Licht) used to work for the Patriots and is close with Belichick.

Trade Brady now? Of course not. But this four-game stretch certainly has opened some eyes about Brady’s level of play.

Belichick offered little insight into his analysis of the quarterback position. When asked about why he put in Garoppolo in the fourth quarter, he replied with, “We played everybody tonight.” When asked about Garoppolo moving the ball in the fourth quarter compared with the offensive staleness under Brady, he replied, “I think our team competed there at the end. That’s what they should do.”

Brady didn’t offer much insight either. I asked him how he took the news of coming out of the game when the score was 41-7. He had just thrown two bad interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

“They told me I was coming out, so . . . ” And he just let it hang there.

“It’s just a disappointment,” he said later. “You never expect these things.”

Look, this definitely isn’t all on Brady. The offensive line has been a mess ever since the team traded Logan Mankins in late August. They’re changing up the combinations every game, and on Monday night, seemingly every series.

But, to be honest, it all starts with Brady. On the very first series Monday, Brady forced a bad pass to Brandon LaFell that fell incomplete. In the second quarter, he was so focused on Gronk in double coverage that he didn’t see a wide-open James Develin. In the third quarter, Brady had all day to throw, but had a miscommunication with Edelman and threw a terrible pick. Two series later, he had plenty of time to throw another bad pick, this one returned for a touchdown by Hamza Abdullah.

“I was just forcing it,” Brady admitted.

Brady’s stats are among the worst of his career — his 5.77 yards per attempt are shockingly bad, almost 2 full yards below his career average of 7.4 . He’s just feeling the pass rush, getting happy feet in the pocket, not seeing the field, and not willing to push the ball down the field.

“Confidence, I’m not worried about whether it goes up and down,” Brady said. “There’s going to be a lot of negativity. Everyone’s going to tell us how terrible we are. It’s just the way it goes in the NFL.”

That was the one thing Brady got right on Monday night.

 

 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/09/30/for-tom-brady-end-game-has-become-apparent/HkkQMtH3T6hbJMEDlJioqI/story.html?hootPostID=269635cd696172b9b458861fbd9a2a37

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If Brady and Peyton Manning switched teams, Manning would be the one needing to retire.  The Patriots have almost no talent at the skill positions.  Julian Edelman is your go to guy?  

 

 

Their Oline is their biggest problem imo, Brady when protected has shown he can get the ball to average talent. He is getting killed right now.

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Their Oline is their biggest problem imo, Brady when protected has shown he can get the ball to average talent. He is getting killed right now.

Yeah, that too.  Even when had some time to throw last night, guys were NOT getting separation.  Also, Kansas City was jumping almost every slant route having NO fear of not being able to recover on a double move.

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Even 1st Ballot HOF QBs look pedestrian when you don't protect them with a good Oline.

 

Should he demand a trade? 

 

He gave up a lot in a failed attempt to keep Mankins and is no longer being paid elite money.

 

I wouldn't tuck and run either if I was him.

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Should he demand a trade? 

 

He gave up a lot in a failed attempt to keep Mankins and is no longer being paid elite money.

 

I wouldn't tuck and run either if I was him.

 

 

I dont think he will ever not be the QB there until he retires.

 

Pats are just going to have a down year and have to go looking for better Olinemen unless the guys they got now come together eventually.

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I think Brady can still play, but it's impossible to succeed with such a poor supporting cast. The o-line is in shambles after inexplicably dealing Mankins to the Bucs. He doesnt have Moss, Welker, Hernandez, or a healthy Gronk to throw to. Belichick as GM has been a failure to let it come to this for Brady's twilight years. The Pats are not dominant on defense by any measure, but the offense just hasn't gotten it done at all. The weapons around Brady (still-recovering Gronk, Edelman, Amendola, Lafell, Vereen, Ridley) are decent enough that Brady can still do damage if the line can get their shit together. Long time o-line coach retired after last year and no doubt has been missed. The loss of Mankins, the best player on the line, has also been a major self-inflicted wound. They will continue to struggle if the o-line plays like the first 4 games.
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http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/11621703/tom-brady-rips-new-england-patriots-offense

 

 

Tom Brady: Struggles go far back

 

Coming off one of the worst losses of his career, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on Wednesday morning acknowledged his team's struggles on offense this season, noting, "I don't think we've played well for a long time."

 

Brady, who was pulled early from Monday night's blowout loss to Kansas City, made the comments as his team tries to put together the pieces of an offense that turned over the ball three times against the Chiefs and is ranked 23rd in the NFL in total yardage this season.

 

"That's obviously going to reflect in every statistic that you can find, that we don't have the kind of offense that's going to perform at a high level," Brady said in his weekly interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI 93.7 FM. "Everyone's connected. It all ties together. If we're not playing well, we're not going to have good stats."

 

Brady finished the game 14-for-23 for 159 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions -- including one that Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah returned for a touchdown and ended the quarterback's night early in the fourth quarter.

 

Brady hasn't been the only issue on offense, however. The offensive line has not given him enough time to throw, and the team's pass-catchers have underperformed as well, save for receiver Julian Edelman.

 

"There is no magic play, there's no magic scheme," Brady said. "It is us as players playing better -- a lot better than we're playing."

 

At his Wednesday news conference, coach Bill Belichick was asked about the Patriots' offensive struggles.

"We are on to Cincinnati," he said.

 

Asked about the 37-year-old Brady's age, Belichick said, "We are on to Cincinnati. There's nothing about the past, nothing about the future. Right now we are preparing for Cincinnati."

 

Asked about whether the Patriots have given their star QB enough weapons, the coach repeated, "We are getting ready for Cincinnati. That's what we are doing."

 

The Pats host the undefeated Bengals on Sunday night.

 

Brady told WEEI that he wasn't "overanalyzing" Belichick's decision to replace him with rookie Jimmy Garoppolo in the fourth quarter.

 

"I just do what I'm told ...," Brady said. "We were getting our butts kicked. So it was a situation where we didn't have a good game, and that's what Coach [Belichick] wanted us to do and that's what we did."

 

In relief of Brady, Garoppolo went 6-for-7 for 70 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski. After that scoring strike, cameras locked in on Brady on the sideline. Unlike some of his teammates, the future Hall of Famer did not approach Garoppolo to congratulate him.

 

"I'm really not [aware of the cameras]," Brady said when asked about the criticism he has taken for not high-fiving Garoppolo. "When we lose there's really not a lot -- even when we win, I think it's just important to not ride the roller coaster of emotions. You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.

 

"I was happy for Jimmy. I was happy for our team. We kept fighting at the end. That's a good thing. The more good players we have, the better we will be as a team. So, I didn't pay attention to any of those things. I was obviously disappointed that the outcome of the game was what it was. It's been very frustrating all season the way that we have performed offensively. But we are trying to figure it out to become a better offense."

 

Brady said things "snowballed" early, leaving the team to play catch-up. He was asked whether he could place a grade on himself after the game.

 

"Well, I can play better," Brady told WEEI. "I think that's how I would grade it. There's decisions and things I need to do a better job of. I don't grade myself. But I know I can play better than the way I'm playing."

 

 

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