Drewwho

...I have to say, so far this is the most reasonable account of Tom Brady's play thus far this season. I am completely amazed by the comments from the media and ESPECIALLY the fans that are completely throwing Brady under that damned bus.

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RRM: The media made a big issue of Brady’s demeanor each time he left the field after an unsuccessful series. His head was down and his shoulders were slumped, as if he was personally taking the responsibility for the failure of his offense. Is that how you saw it as well?

SG: I think they are reading way too much into that. Brady’s the kind of kid that when things aren’t going well when he’s going off the field with his head down he’s thinking about what’s taking place and what he needs to do. That entire issue is way overblown. Many of the TV media people were saying that he was missing a lot of his throws and had a bad game and man, I didn’t see that at all! When you throw for 300 yards and you have to throw it 55 times you’re making a lot of your throws. What’s happening out there right now isn’t his fault and he knows that, but he is such a competitor he wants to get his offense going.

Right now Brady’s getting a lot of pressure in his face and the first two weeks they had a running game that took some of the pressure off the passing game (although he was still getting hit a lot). He got hit a lot Sunday night, and this time there was no running game (only 50 yards rushing). When you’re throwing 55 times a night and you are getting knocked down on half of them it rattles your aim a little bit, and to be honest with you they just aren’t getting guys wide open as they have in the past. They definitely have a lot of work to do.

RRM: John Madden pointed out that Tom Brady is only the third quarterback in NFL history to lead the league in passing and not have his two top receivers return the following season. As a quarterback, is it that crucial an issue?

SG: I think it is. I think Tom Brady is still trying to find himself with these new guys. I thought the rookie Chad Jackson being out with that bad hamstring hurt them, because it looked like they had a little something going last week and now he’s out again. Doug Gabriel had a nice home debut grabbing four balls on that scoring drive, so maybe that’s a combination that can become something in time. It just takes time for any quarterback to get used to working with a new receiver, and Brady is trying to get used to a whole bunch of them. But the timing isn’t there right now because they haven’t worked together that long and it is not an easy task, believe me.

Digger44

why wouldnt he back brady?

Drewwho

Why would he? He is under no obligation to do so.

italian pat patriot

i always love Steve Grogan comments (this time too)

no reason to panic yet (are we 2-1 ?)

patsox23

The point about adjusting to the new WRs is a belabored, but important, one. Brady is having to get in sync ON THE FLY, with new receivers, and with an OL that seems to be randomly having trouble pass blocking.

I hesitate to write this, given the myriad threads on this topic, but the one person most to blame for this, honestly, is Deion Branch. That's a terrible job by him, and the team is suffering for it now. Brady will have to get on the same page with his WRs and it's just going to take some time. Any wins we can eke out during that process will be gravy.

Digger44

Because he has a brain and understands that an SB MVP with 3 rings has tough games. Grogan isn't retarded. Duh. Why is this so hard to get? Why is it so tough to understand that this is a work in progress?

Digger44

You are right, but you need to understand this is a learing process for him as well. He learned tons this week, and wil improve each game.

Oswlek

IMHO, Grogan usually is a little too homerific on his grades, and it has caused me to stop reading them. For whatever reason I did take a look at it this time and I have to say, it is a very good account of what went on in the game. His take on how NE didn't have a good backup offensive game plan, and the searching for answers being one of the factors as to why NE looked so out of synch is quite good. He is tough on the areas that did poorly, while being objective and giving Denver credit.

I might just have to resume the weekly reading of his grades.

FloridaPatsFan

I'm not sure how old you are Oswlek, but if you had seen Grogan (and hopefully you did), he was one of the last QB's in the NFL to call the majority of his own plays. He was a crafty bastard. My favorite memory of his playcalling was the 4th and 1 where we would stack the line and his play fakes were unbelievable. Everyone on the D would dive for the RB and Grogan would be holding the ball behind his back. Even the camera operators were constantly faked out.......and lo and behold, there would be Grogan, lofting a soft pass out to the endzone were a completely wide open reciever would be standing......Touchdown. Or the naked bootlegs.....He was great.

And with that in mind, I thought that when our QB coach died, Grogan would have been a great man for the job.....but BB and Pioli have really never given it thought....He is a guy out of the Charlie Weiss play calling theology.....Keep 'em guessing.

Oswlek

The first Pats game I ever watched was the Chicago SB, so, sadly, I missed his best years.

I still chuckle at how long I had absolutely no idea what the hell first and 10 meant.