 Brady spent most of Sunday under pressure against the Jets. (USA TODAY Images) |
Through the first two quarters of play on Sunday the Jets defense spent plenty of time getting up close and personal with Tom Brady, probably a little more than the Patriots signal caller would have liked.
They got to him and sacked him four times in the first half, two of which came on 3rd down and contributed to the fact they were just 2-of-6 on third down at that point in the game. The Jets did a good job of mixing up their blitzes, disguising them well enough where they kept New England's offensive line guessing and they weren't able to keep them out of the backfield long enough to allow Brady and the offense to get much going.
From the outside, it appeared that part of their issues stemmed from the absence of Dan Connolly, who was inactive with a knee injury. That saw Josh Kline get the nod at left guard, while both Marcus Cannon and Cameron Fleming saw time during the contest. Both Belichick and Brady gave credit to New York's defense for doing a good job against them in the first half, but when asked about their issues after the game Brady explained that more of the issues stemmed from problems with their communication more than anything else.
 After a rough first half, the Patriots didn't allow a sack in the second half. (USA TODAY Images) |
"I think they're giving good protection, I just think our communication wasn't great with a lot of things where we just all weren't on the same page," said Brady during his post game press conference. "And when you do that, especially against a team that moves a lot of guys in and out of their defensive front and they blitz linebackers and safeties and, you know, they've got a lot of guys coming, our communication has to be on point and it's kind of sputtered. We've got to be able to do a better job of that, especially here down the stretch."
In the second half, Brady saw much better protection, largely in part because of changes they made personnel-wise after Kline came out of the line-up and the team moved Ryan Wendell over to left guard, while Fleming moved over to right guard. That didn't change the fact that Brady still saw some pressure, but he had just enough time to allow the offense to put points up on the board.
"We got into a little rhythm there, I think it settled a few things down," said Brady on their second-half adjustments. "But we've got to sustain it and get it in the end zone down there. We kind of came up short on that 3rd and one, or 3rd and two, whatever it was. We've just got to finish those drives, especially with key drives like that where you finally can get a little momentum, a little rhythm, but we just ... You know, it was a good defense. They challenged us, had a long field all day, we got a couple good short fields that we took advantage of but the defense really stepped up when we needed it to."
For now they'll have to wait and see how Monday night's game between Denver and Cincinnati shakes out before they'll know what they'll be playing for next week. Sunday saw them clinch a first round bye, but home field remains up for grabs unless the Broncos lose to the Bengals. Should Denver go down, the Patriots will clinch home field throughout the postseason. If not, New England will have to wait another week before they learn their fate.
However, for now the focus will move on to the Bills, and Brady's hoping that his team will start playing four complete quarters.
"I just wish we'd play better for 60-minutes and we just haven't figured out a way to play against these guys as well as we possibly can," said Brady. "So we've got to keep fighting. Sometimes you've got to grind them out. It's tough to win games in the NFL, certainly on the road against Division opponents, Divison Rivals, but we've got a big one coming up next week."
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