Ross Tucker:Tom Brady losing battle vs. undefeated opponent — time

[ALP]

Lmao, I think it's something you can bring up at this point, but you really need at least a whole season, and considering what we've been through this past offseason possibly two bad seasons in a row by Brady before u can conclusively say its decline due to age

But bringing up as a possibility at this point? Completely OK....just like bringing up it's the possibility of injury or weapons turnover that is causing the depressing numbers

 

[captain stone]

Not to get off topic, but KC is vastly over rated.

Not 1 team theyve faced has a winning record. The best is Dallas @ 4 - 4. Back up QBs and struggling starters have padded the KC defenses stat sheet. The only decent 2013 QB thus far has been Romo and he had cracked ribs vs KC that game.

KC is going to lose in the coming weeks and then fold in the post season.

I hope not; they play the Donkeys twice in 3 weeks, starting November 14th.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Ol' Ross never misses a chance to tweak his former team. He does it cleverly, without venom, in a matter-of-fact, "I wish I didn't have to say/write this" manner. But whether in print or verbally, he does it.

I like him on SIRIUS radio but a careful listening reveals just what you say.
Interesting that he and all the other sports media folk believe that the One True God, Peyton, is immune to this undefeated opponent, aging.

Others in this thread have listed the litany of offensive lineup disasters Brady has faced. Combine this with the "minor" issue of an injury to his throwing hand and you have a perfect storm of challenges. Let's see a full season before we render our verdict.

And let the speculation begin now on the excuses when Peyton crashes and burns in January.

 

[MassPats38]

I agree that the article isn't bad. It is a question more than an answer. What is to blame for this statistical decline?

I don't believe age affects decision-making to any great degree. You can point to there being missed throws to open men, or pushing throws to Gronk since his return in triple coverage or in ill-advised passes. Or throws off the mark. If Brady is entirely to blame, we have watched a series of games in which he (1) has been clobbered by bad blocking, (2) has consistently not had open men to throw to in passing plays or (3) is putting the ball to where it should be, only to find a receiver is not. These concerns may explain the current problem.

Brady is an intelligent QB, and a competitor. All of these problems, when arising on a regular basis, will encourage him and virtually any other QB, to press, push the ball and rush passes. The Pats offense has worked on precise timing and route running, in which Brady's job is to scan the field quickly and put the ball to the open man at the time and place it is designed to get there. He has been very accurate, and phenomenal in that system. Now, it is like owning a Ferrari and slamming your foot on the accelerator only to have the engine knock and sputter its way into oncoming traffic. Do you drive that car the same way? No.

I don't believe Brady is a 'system' QB, that his history and statistics would be the same as any QB plugged into his job, but he does work within a complex system. When nothing is working, he does not have 10 seconds to wait until it does. He is getting sacked too much for holding the ball waiting for something to develop, is pushing the ball to guys who have shown to be somewhat clutch (JE and Gronk), and is rushing passes because of pressure (real or perceived). That is a mental issue far more than a physical one, and a fixable problem if Brady starts to see the system a little more healthy than it has been. QBs like Elway and Favre both had statistically great years far later than Brady, and both relied on a broader physical skill set than Brady possesses (ie., their legs as well as their arms), skills like scrambling that do degrade quickly with time.

 

[patsfan13]

I have been wondering about the passing of T Martinez and moving to House as a QB coach, is this a part of the equation?

 

[Triumph]

I have been wondering about the passing of T Martinez and moving to House as a QB coach, is this a part of the equation?

Good point.

 

[Kontradiction]

His throwing hand is injured, he's trying to work in two rookie wideouts in the hardest system in the NFL to master, his top two targets are injured/returning from injury, and his interior OL is having trouble holding up in pass protection. Tucker would know this if he bothered to do some research or, you know, actually watch the games. Instead, he wrote this trash to get some clicks.

 

[Jackson 2]

Bruschi said that the Pats are not a playoff team.

Rodney has been critical of the team too

You misunderstood my intent. I don't have a problem with legit criticism of the team. However, as a Sirius/XM daily listener, I hear Tucker all the time and the tone of his message about NE never varies from the way I described it. Never. Both Bruschi and Harrison seem to craft their commentary with much more balance than Ol' Ross.

 

[Sivy]

why has brady had a big drop off from last year ?

#1 he's best WR from last year is now in Denver leading the NFL in TD's and 2th in rec,

#2 he's 2th best WR from last year is home working on he's rap album,

#3 he's top five TE is going to get life in prison for murder,

#4 he's 3rd down back is in san deigo were he leads all RB's in rec,

#5 he's new slot WR has only played in 2 games

#6 he's number one outside WR is a undrafted rookie

#7 the best TE in the NFL has only been back for two games and is now getting triple covered,

#8 he's almost 1300 yard 12 td RB from last year is only averaging 12 att per game

2th??? Really?

 

[Ozymandias]

He may or may not be on the decline, but one thing no one can question about this guy is his mental toughness, and will to win. He's still the same fiery competitor that he always was.

The Patriots have had to deal with a **** ton of adversity this season from long before the season even started up until today and they persevered in the face of that with utter resolve. Brady has played a huge role in that, much to dismay of his haters.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

I'm not sure what to make of that article, but he definitely lost a bit of mojo. I want to see if there are at least some improvement in his game after the bye week before i make my final judgement. But so far, most of his throws are dreadful, injury or not.

 

[JMC00]

Have these people writing this stuff forgotten about his previous 3 seasons? There's just no way Brady went from that to this during the off-season because of time.

 

[chasa]

I'd still take brady over 97% of the other QB's in the league

 

[shmessy]

Remember this from the first Jets game, on Thursday night?



Was it ever determined what he was spraying on his hand?

Magic Dust

 

[shmessy]

Bruschi said that the Pats are not a playoff team.

Really? When?

 

[Jackson 2]

Remember this from the first Jets game, on Thursday night?



Was it ever determined what he was spraying on his hand?

Deer antler spray from his buddy Ray.

 

[SVN]

Remember this from the first Jets game, on Thursday night?



Was it ever determined what he was spraying on his hand?

interesting ? never seen this being picked up before until the last game

 

[simpletruth]

Every player hits a wall with age at some point. Who knows when it is going to happen and when it really is due to their age.

I don't think age has anything to do with Brady's issues.

I think, and have thought this going on a few years now, that the offense has been entirely too pass centric. It has been amazing to watch in the regular season but then the falter comes in the post season. Just contemplating why an offense that is so unbelievably hard to stop can have the brakes put on it in the post season made me wonder what the deal was.

I think having the offense be so imbalanced has put far too much pressure on TB to be perfect all the time. It is unfair to him and to the team. The team has GOT to have balance and be committed to a sound running game.

The balance was there last year, until the Ravens game.

So seeing TB press in the post season, knowing that winning the all important 'win or go home' game, has made it much much harder on him to be accurate and make all the best decisions.

No one demands more of himself than TB, what I think is that BB needs to quit putting TB in the position of having to demand this perfection of himself. Help him out. Quit asking him to do it all. RUN THE BALL and stick to it.

It is as if BB just became so enamored with having superman at QB he couldn't help himself.

Yet the TB that won the super bowls was not the superman version of himself. It was on a balanced team that had a QB that had ice in his veins and the ultimate confidence to pass for critical first downs with laser like accuracy. Knowing he was going to be handing it off as well, pounding out first downs to control the clock and keep the other team off the field. It wasn't ALL on him. He was far more confident it seemed. Remember how his aura was very "Joe Cool" like back then?

 

[JMC00]

Every player hits a wall with age at some point. Who knows when it is going to happen and when it really is due to their age.

I don't think age has anything to do with Brady's issues.

I think, and have thought this going on a few years now, that the offense has been entirely too pass centric. It has been amazing to watch in the regular season but then the falter comes in the post season. Just contemplating why an offense that is so unbelievably hard to stop can have the brakes put on it in the post season made me wonder what the deal was.

I think having the offense be so imbalanced has put far too much pressure on TB to be perfect all the time. It is unfair to him and to the team. The team has GOT to have balance and be committed to a sound running game.

The balance was there last year, until the Ravens game.

So seeing TB press in the post season, knowing that winning the all important 'win or go home' game, has made it much much harder on him to be accurate and make all the best decisions.

No one demands more of himself than TB, what I think is that BB needs to quit putting TB in the position of having to demand this perfection of himself. Help him out. Quit asking him to do it all. RUN THE BALL and stick to it.

It is as if BB just became so enamored with having superman at QB he couldn't help himself.

Yet the TB that won the super bowls was not the superman version of himself. It was on a balanced team that had a QB that had ice in his veins and the ultimate confidence to pass for critical first downs with laser like accuracy. Knowing he was going to be handing it off as well, pounding out first downs to control the clock and keep the other team off the field. It wasn't ALL on him. He was far more confident it seemed. Remember how his aura was very "Joe Cool" like back then?

Only about 5 teams have run the ball more than the Patriots this year. Them committing to the run is not the problem. The problem is they have a top 10 RB losing carries to Brandon Bolden and LaGarette Blount for whatever head scratching reason.

 

[Kontradiction]

Only about 5 teams have run the ball more than the Patriots this year. Them committing to the run is not the problem. The problem is they have a top 10 RB losing carries to Brandon Bolden and LaGarette Blount for whatever head scratching reason.

Well, this past week it was either because he high stepped into the end zone or just wasn't seen as an important piece of the original game plan (which was then scrapped). Either way, it didn't make much sense to me.