King on Brady and Hanging Tough in MMQB

[MoLewisrocks]

Peter can be a tad melodramatic in some of his reads. Like Eli saving the Giants season in week 2. But his take on Brady (who I wish didn't have to take these calls and could just get his rest) while a bit dramatic is a fairly honest assessment of the process that is underway.

"The new Brady Bunch.

This was just before 8 p.m. on Sunday night, and Brady sounded like the man who'd just lost a game to the Jets, not won. "This was a long day,'' he told me, winding down after New England's survivalist 24-17 win over the Jets. "I'm very tired.'' New England almost blew a 24-0 lead, enduring a late blocked field goal by Jonathan Vilma and a frenzied Jets rally to hang on.

Brady is the guy who has to make everything right on the field after all of the Patriots' free-agency losses and contract-related crap, and it's an exhausting job. But you know what? He just does it. No wonder the Patriots' management and coaching staff thinks they'll always be OK with Brady behind center. He bails them out continuously. Look at what happened in the fourth quarter of this one.

With 9:20 to go, New England was grimly trying to hold on to a 24-17 lead and took the ball at its 30. Bleed the clock. That was Brady's job. With 7:51 left, on third-and-five, he hit Reche Caldwell for six. With 6:00 left, from the shotgun, on third-and-five again, he dumped it to Kevin Faulk for six. Tick, tick, tick. With 4:08 left, from the shotgun again on third-and-seven, he threw to Troy Brown, who burrowed for eight. Notice the pattern?

They need five, they get six. They need seven, they get eight. They converted another first down, bled the clock some more, then got into position for the clinching field goal. It was blocked, but Brady had done his job. He'd taken new England 63 yards downfield, but more importantly, he'd taken eight minutes and 15 seconds off the clock ... and he'd done it, amazingly, with the Jets burning all three timeouts and the two-minute warning stopping the clock another time.

The numbers say Brady had a pedestrian game (15 of 29, 220 yards, one touchdown, one pick), but he led his team to a 24-0 lead on the road, then helped the Pats survive with that drive. "We're a long way from being where we need to be,'' he said. "A long way. There're times we don't look so good. We've got to be able to put the nail in the coffin. But that's what happens with a new team.'' That's what this group feels like, a new team."


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/peter_king/09/18/mmqb.9.18/index.html

 

[Oswlek]

I don't find it a good representation at all. King goes out of his way to glorify the big names, and this is another case of this. As I have said in a half dozen other posts this morning, I think Brady is the best QB in the game, but he did not have a great game, I will give this a "good" and that is it.

Oh and this quote:

"The Pats are unbeaten, so all should be well. So why did Tom Brady sound like his dog just died when we spoke Sunday night?"

is a little strange. Is he trying to insinuate that there is something wrong in Patriot land? Didn't he just get through telling us that he is carrying this Patriot team? Wouldn't that be draining?

The reality is probably that Brady is still a little disappointed by the team, but he is even more disappointed in himself. He has not played very well at all in either of the games so far.

 

[14thDragon]

The reality is probably that Brady is still a little disappointed by the team, but he is even more disappointed in himself. He has not played very well at all in either of the games so far.

I have got to wonder though why Brady has beenso off in the past two games. Also his pointing to the fact that this is a "new team". I think his lack of sync with the recievers is really begining to wear on him. Which is a bit more than disconcerting.

I heard his PC after the game, he really did sound out of it. No excitement, no fire, nothing really. It seems awfully odd to me.

 

[QuinielaBox]

Well at least Brady knows he needs to work at his game and getting familier with his new WR's. And we have a running game to be relied upon.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Well at least Brady knows he needs to work at his game and getting familier with his new WR's. And we have a running game to be relied upon.

Exactly - and expecting a new cast of WRs to instantly to be on the same page with their QB is unrealistic, regardless of all the bold predictions so many made about Gabriel and Jackson having huge weeks.

The air game is getting better each week - Brady's confidence in them is growing each week as well - as evidenced by Brady changing Caldwell's route on that key 6 yard reception - specifically his confidence that Caldwell would make the catch at crunch time.

That's huge and something the statistics don't show you.

We'd just better hope the running game remains consistent and both Dillon and Maroney remain healthy for the time being.

 

[Dagg]

What a tool, he sucks Brady off in the body of his article, off then ranks us 2nd to last out of the teams 2-0 (only ahead of Minn) with that BS dog comment. Have another latte fatboy.

 

[upstater1]

Except Brady's two turnovers were a big part in why the Jets got back into the game. Granted, stuff like that will happen when you get sacked and when you go long, so it's not on Brady really.

But it's time the rest of the players on this team go some credit. My God, the Patriots have amassed a boaload of talent. The OL, the DL, the RBs and TEs, the LBs. Give the Patriots players some credit!! This isn't all Brady this year.

 

[Displaced - Fan]

He's making it out that Brady is doing this all alone. Lets just ignor the fact that we ran for 150+ yards for the second straight week and averaged over 4ypc. Dillion had a key 10 yard run and steam roled out 20 yards total on that final drive

 

[p8ryts]

I did notice one of the shots of Brady on the bench, his head was hanging down and he did look whipped.

I think we need to see what the impact of all these beautiful women are having on him. Maybe Bridget is becoming to demanding. Nothing like a controlling woman to numb you down.

I can't imagine its team related. He seemed pretty upbeat once Deion was finally gone and I never believed Deion was that crucial to our success as a team.

 

[Bella*chick]

Ultimately, I believe that at the end of the year, we'll look back on these "What's wrong with Brady?" topics and laugh over them. I don't understand fully what is the issue either, although something seems a bit off. I heard his press conference too, and I didn't think he sounded depressed or anything. Everyone perceives things differently, I guess.

The pass game needs some time to gel, it's true. But our running game is such a bright point, I have real difficulty processing some of these depressing articles. And we're 2-0 as well. I guess I am just confused.

Maybe Brady is a little frustrated that by all accounts he worked his butt off in the offseason to improve and he's not seeing it yet.

 

[PlattsFan]

King exasperates me quite often, and he certainly is a real star fluffer, but I think he's got a point on this one. The Patriots are making enormous demands on Tom Brady. It must be totally exhausting for Brady to be directing so many WRs who don't know what they are doing. The mental demands and leadership demands they're making on Brady ... and add in that fact that one of his good friends just left the team ... it must be tough.

Brady not only needs to worry about what he's got to do, he needs to direct the WRs and coach them on the field, then he needs to make sure to do things like run over to Caldwell and congratulate him on his secondary route that cleared out space for Jackson to catch his TD.

That said, King once again misses the point, focusing on the "human interest" angle ("Brady sounds tired and down!") and completely ignoring the football. Yes, Brady is working hard, yes his #s haven't been as good. But the Pats have shown dominance in the foundational areas (running, stopping the run, rushing the passer), and their problems in the other areas (WR coordination and tackling in the secondary) are just the kinds of things that Belichick teams tighten up as the year goes along.

King is a writer who looks for story-angles and then confuses those angles for what's really important to winning and losing.

 

[PromisedLand]

It amazes me that we don't hear more recognition from the press about the cast that Brady has a whole new cast of characters to throw to at the wide receiver position. Brady himself talked throughout the preseason about the need to get to know his receivers before the passing game will be fully tuned up - the receivers and he need to know each other as well as a man knows his wife (but not in the biblical sense! ) Unspoken communication on the field is paramount in the passing game. Within a few weeks it should be running a lot smoother.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

King exasperates me quite often, and he certainly is a real star fluffer, but I think he's got a point on this one. The Patriots are making enormous demands on Tom Brady. It must be totally exhausting for Brady to be directing so many WRs who don't know what they are doing. The mental demands and leadership demands they're making on Brady ... and add in that fact that one of his good friends just left the team ... it must be tough.

Brady not only needs to worry about what he's got to do, he needs to direct the WRs and coach them on the field, then he needs to make sure to do things like run over to Caldwell and congratulate him on his secondary route that cleared out space for Jackson to catch his TD.

That said, King once again misses the point, focusing on the "human interest" angle ("Brady sounds tired and down!") and completely ignoring the football. Yes, Brady is working hard, yes his #s haven't been as good. But the Pats have shown dominance in the foundational areas (running, stopping the run, rushing the passer), and their problems in the other areas (WR coordination and tackling in the secondary) are just the kinds of things that Belichick teams tighten up as the year goes along.

King is a writer who looks for story-angles and then confuses those angles for what's really important to winning and losing.

Bingo.

What Tommy is doing (and most here are ignoring his 108.5 QB rating in the first half which still required a near perfect 8 minute performance to close out the game) is the equivalent of high leverage innings for a pitcher. Those take a lot more out of you regardless of your mindset.

What I see real promise in is the reaction his WR's are having to him. Some would be daunted but all 3 of the new guys seem to see what is special about him and they want to get up to speed to lessen his frustration. The rookie said in a quote in the Herald today that Tom wants his superbowl caliber offense back and he is frustrated that it is not there yet.

Remember even with Branch and Givens on the roster last season he spent most of the year trying to mentor some production out of guys like Watson and Davis and through TC last summer even Terrell to cover for a non-exstent running game while standing behind a Oline that couldn't run block or pass block and a defense that couldn't stop a sneeze for the first 10 weeks of the season.

Sometimes things are cumulative. Coming off a season where he had to carry this team on his back, he spent the summer carrying Deion on his back and leading a handful of new WR's around by the nose when they were located or were even healthy enough to practice with him. If he didn't sound tired there would be something really wrong with him.