I don't remember seeing him named as a capegoat in any of the seasons NE failed to win a SB besides this season, and frankly, he did not turn in a good season overall. Everybody at the professional level can put together a few good plays or even a game or two. The truth is though he is not the sole reason NE failed to win it all last season, his play was not anywhere near top level, or even good in a lot of games last season. This was the case even before he hurt his toe. Let's no pretend that the people who are criticizing him are just being mean or irrational. Let's not exaggerate his good play any more than the very people you are implying are overly exaggerating his poor play. Simply put the man was inconsistent for the better part of two seasons now and that's not someone you necessarily should want protecting your soon-to-be 39 year old HOF QB . . . one that still shows the ability to lead your team to and win a SB.
I don't agree. Sorry. He's barely played since Vollmer was healthy all the way through 2014.
Last year he played more, obviously, after Week 4 when Solder went down.
How can you seriously judge one player, when the team had 21 players on IR? BB spent the last 4 games going vanilla and being cautious with star players nursing injuries. I am pretty sure when your gameplan blows, your RT is injured in single blocking schemes against a roided up Von Miller, you might have some issues.
Kinda silly to analyze players when you know the team was dismantled by injuries.
And, this probably isn't the thread to do it in, but some of our fans are clueless when it comes to understanding how risky Brady's preferred offense is for this team.
Whether it's 2007 in SB 42 and a LOADED O Line looking bad for 4 qtrs, or any other disappointing ending in a season, where the pressure is ENORMOUS on our O Line because O'Brien and McDaniels are brain dead calling games against the better defenses.
It's not a player problem, it's a fundamental problem in terms of gameplan and approach.
Last time I checked, Brady was the best playaction QB of all time, but you can't get to playaction if you're busy running a shotgun spread AND subbing the RB on and off, telegraphing what kind of a play you're going to run.
I can call out the play NE will run on offense based on which RB is subbed on and off and obviously when Brady is in the shotgun, over and over and over.
It's too easy on defenses.
Been going on since SB 42, but hey, Brady says he "prefers" the shotgun spread. Meanwhile, our entire O Line is under immense pressure for 50+ shotgun dropbacks against a front 7 that can dictate to them, guess the snap count, stunt and have the advantage.
So, what do I know, right?
Funny how our O Lines are praised all year by outsiders, and then all of a sudden, we face a good or great front 7 in the postseason, Brady throws a minimum 2 INTs in his shotgun spread preference, everyone wants to blame the defense or non-stars on the offense, and voila, we're eeking out a win or serving up wins to the opponent on a silver platter.
Give me Week 5 - Week 17, post Moss trade, 2010 Brady... all day, everyday.