Dan Wetzel:Brady suddenly struggling in Pats’ biggest games

[ausbacker]

I've been waiting for another "legendary" game in the playoffs from Brady. His last one was vs. the Rams,IMO!

Actually, his last legendary game in the playoffs was against the Broncos in the Divisional Round.

 

[ausbacker]

Frankly, I think its ridiculous.
First, all QBs are statistically worse in the postseason (over a large sample size) because the competition is better.
Second, lets really look at Bradys play.
Remember, the premise is he STRUGGLES.
This year:
Played well enough to put 23 points on the board vs a good Raven D with no benefit of turnovers. Threw for 239 yards. Not superhuman, which seems to be the standard for Brady, but far from STRUGGLING.
Denver. One of the best playoff games ever by a QB.

2010. Jets. Completed over 60% of his passes for 299 yards. The team lost, yet a 299 yard day is now considered struggling because of it.

2009. Ravens. Bad game.

2007. SB Drove to go ahead TD in the 4th quarter. Was hit while throwing at least a dozen times, and sacked 5 more. A QB who is a punching bad isn't struggling, he is getting no protection.
Rest of 2007 playoffs, led team to SB,

If the expectation is that Brady is supposed toi be perfect, he isn't. But to write articles like this, suggesting he is bad in the playoffs is simply wrong.
Please let me know about all the QBs who have a better playoff resume.

We've been on this for a while Andy, Tom Brady is a victim of his own success. The standards that others are held to don't apply to Tom Brady. He's simply that good.

 

[oldskool138]

Brady struggles in the playoffs...except when he doesn't. I guess Wetzy missed the record-setting Dever game.

 

[Fencer]

Actually, the article got one big thing wrong.

Brady has always struggled. Football is a struggle.

What's been awesome about Brady and the Pats is that they have a number of drives that don't seem like such struggles. But even then, guys are fighting very hard to make it look easy.

 

[PATS16N0]

To be fair, in 2009 he was still rehabilitating his injury from 2008 and so I understand he was missing a lot of practices and wasn't 100% for the entire season.

The Jets loss was brutal but the Denver game he set records. I think people are looking too deeply into this. I'd wait to see what happens in the Superbowl, at least.

If he puts on a Superbowl performance for the ages this thread is going to look silly.

What I will say is I have wondered if Brady cementing his legacy after the 2007 loss has put a lot of extra pressure on him. It sometimes seems as if he's going into a big game with the aura of himself weighing on his own shoulders.

 

[Ring 6]

We've been on this for a while Andy, Tom Brady is a victim of his own success. The standards that others are held to don't apply to Tom Brady. He's simply that good.

We agree :rocker:

 

[Ring 6]

To be fair, in 2009 he was still rehabilitating his injury from 2008 and so I understand he was missing a lot of practices and wasn't 100% for the entire season.

The Jets loss was brutal but the Denver game he set records. I think people are looking too deeply into this. I'd wait to see what happens in the Superbowl, at least.

If he puts on a Superbowl performance for the ages this thread is going to look silly.

What I will say is I have wondered if Brady cementing his legacy after the 2007 loss has put a lot of extra pressure on him. It sometimes seems as if he's going into a big game with the aura of himself weighing on his own shoulders.

Yes losing to the Jets was devastating, but Bradys play was far from bad.

 

[Joker]

The whole world better hope Brady and the Pats fall to the Giants....this guy and every other Tom Jackson clone jagoff will become my own personal crusade.....

 

[PatsGirl2011]

Actually, his last legendary game in the playoffs was against the Broncos in the Divisional Round.

Felt more like a preseason game, but that was probably because who they played.

 

[PATS16N0]

They beat the Steelers and Brady torched them. Can't take anything away from that performance, the Donkeys were a post season team that took out one of our toughest (albeit injury riddled) rivals.

 

[ausbacker]

Felt more like a preseason game, but that was probably because who they played.

You can only beat you who play. We can argue about the merits of the Broncos all we like but they won the AFC West, beat the Steelers in the Wildcard Round and earned their place in the Divisional Round. I was expecting more from them, however Tom Brady single handedly shut that down in the fist half.

 

[makoute]

Over the last week ive been thinking of this myself, TB has been inconsistent for a few years now when it comes to playoff games. He built his rep on being cluth, being his best in the most intense situation. But in the last 3-4 four years it seems that he has struggled. IMO its a combination of playing against defenses that are very good and over time have figured out his weakness's, and his trying to live up to his own legend.




"The man who has built his brilliant career on a propensity for clutch play in the most significant of moments has a recent history of being mediocre when the season is on the line."

"So the questions linger. Is he pressing too much? Is his desire for a fourth Super Bowl win so intense that he’s over-preparing or overthrowing? Is he trying too hard, such as his ill-advised and unnecessary deep pass against the Ravens that turned into a pick? Or are playoff defenses so focused on stopping him there’s a weak point somewhere else that can be exploited?

You know what I will say to that, RTB (run the ball)

 

[Ron Sellers]

The NYG offense is by far and away better than the BAL offense.

Brady needs to be at his best for the Patriots to have a chance.

The Giants are a good team, but come on, you and many others are overstating how good they are. To read the gloom and doom from some - make that many - Pats fans I would think the team was going up against a combination of the 85 Bears on defense, the 07 Pats on offense, coached by Paul Brown with Vince Lombardi as his DC and Bill Walsh as the OC.


While it is true that Giants offense is better than Ravens offense, it is also true that the Ravens defense is better than the Giants defense.

Think about it this way: if somebody told you two or three weeks ago that the Ravens and Giants were going to meet in the Super Bowl, who would most people have picked to win the game? Who would you have picked to win that game?


Don't get me wrong, the Giants are a very good team and have in my opinion a nearly equal chance of winning next week. But it just seems like so many people - especially Pats fans, for some reason - are readily buying into all their hype without a second thought.



The only way the Pats have "a chance" to win is for Brady to be "at his best", and if it is anything less than that and the game is over? Seriously?

 

[oldskool138]

The only way the Pats have "a chance" to win is for Brady to be "at his best", and if it is anything less than that and the game is over? Seriously?

Look at the three games the Pats lost this year. They all featured Tom Brady not at his best. Tom wasn't his best last week and it took a heads up play by a defender who was beaten badly and a missed chip-shot FG.

I don't blame some fans for feeling that way.

 

[Jackson 2]

The NYG offense is by far and away better than the BAL offense.

Brady needs to be at his best for the Patriots to have a chance.

Not to take it out on you, but for crissakes, this team lost 4 games in a row and lost both games to the effing Redskins. Their lbs are ordinary at best and their secondary is arguably the same as ours. Yes, they're a good team and yes, they're healthy, but this mega-love across the nation, not to mention the world, for a goddam 9-7 team is just a little out of control. Should NE even bother to show up???

 

[Rob0729]

Yet, within his last six playoff performances, Brady has set the single game playoff records for completion percentage (Against the Jags in January of 2008) and most passing TDs in a half (three weeks ago against Denver). He also is tied for the most passing TDs in a playoff game (again against Denver).

Also, call me crazy, but playing with broken ribs and finger on his throwing hand might have played a part in his poor performance against the Ravens in January of 2009. Half the QBs in the league couldn't have even played under those conditions. Also, he lost his best WR in the last regular season game.

And let's not forget he was playing with a sprained ankle in the Super Bowl. Look how a sprained ankle destroyed Roethlisberger (and not his ability to scramble). Big Ben struggled to put any zip on his passes because he couldn't step into the throw.

If Wetzel really wanted to be really fair, he would have discussed the injuries he was play through in some of these big games.

 

[oldskool138]

this mega-love across the nation, not to mention the world, for a goddam 9-7 team is just a little out of control. Should NE even bother to show up???

The Giants are 3-0. The Pats are 2-0 (with a bye). The regular season means nothing. Even BB says the team's 0-0 at the beginning of the playoffs every time the Pats go. That's what you should be looking at.

 

[Rob0729]

The Giants are a good team, but come on, you and many others are overstating how good they are. To read the gloom and doom from some - make that many - Pats fans I would think the team was going up against a combination of the 85 Bears on defense, the 07 Pats on offense, coached by Paul Brown with Vince Lombardi as his DC and Bill Walsh as the OC.


While it is true that Giants offense is better than Ravens offense, it is also true that the Ravens defense is better than the Giants defense.

Think about it this way: if somebody told you two or three weeks ago that the Ravens and Giants were going to meet in the Super Bowl, who would most people have picked to win the game? Who would you have picked to win that game?


Don't get me wrong, the Giants are a very good team and have in my opinion a nearly equal chance of winning next week. But it just seems like so many people - especially Pats fans, for some reason - are readily buying into all their hype without a second thought.



The only way the Pats have "a chance" to win is for Brady to be "at his best", and if it is anything less than that and the game is over? Seriously?

I agree. The Giants have not been nearly as good as people make them out to be. Just like the Pats, they were fortunate to get some teams at the right time in the playoffs and had some lucky breaks in a game they could have just as easily lost.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Look at the three games the Pats lost this year. They all featured Tom Brady not at his best. Tom wasn't his best last week and it took a heads up play by a defender who was beaten badly and a missed chip-shot FG.

I don't blame some fans for feeling that way.

Why is there this assumption that the Giants will absolutey, positively be at their best, receive unforced errors, make zero mistakes, etc., and that the only chance the Pats possibly have is if they play a perfect game? Give the Giants their due, but the amount of credit being bestowed upon them is over the top in my opinion.

Believe it or not but the Patriots have somehow managed to win seven games this year when Brady has thrown an interception, and four games when he completed less than 60% of his passes.

 

[PatriotSeven]

Just based on the title, I can already see this guy has no clue what makes for great QB play. No point in reading. This is one of the best Brady's played in the playoffs in a long time.