"Targeting lack of weapons for Tom Brady’s decline growing tiresome" (?)

[SammyBlueCat]

Is this true?

Patriots vs. Titans: Targeting lack of weapons for Tom Brady's decline growing tiresome

As Brady opens his quest to become the NFL’s best quarterback for the third consecutive decade Saturday night at Gillette Stadium against the Titans in the first round of the playoffs, he won’t have the luxury of banking on the best group of receivers in the league, but they’re not as bad as advertised.

 

[NYCPATS4LIFE]

Is this true?

Patriots vs. Titans: Targeting lack of weapons for Tom Brady's decline growing tiresome

I would say horsesh*t although he has missed throws but this bunch can’t get open consistently.

 

[luuked]

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Everyone saying WRs are not open is clearly not (re)watching games while everyone who argues that Brady has reached a cliff is also a bozo.

Reality is that execution has been extremely inconsistent. And the reasons for this are more nuanced than pointing the finger at any player or entire unit. Sometimes a WR screwed up a route or drops a pass, sometimes Brady overthrows or underthrows them and other times -- although less frequently in the last few weeks -- he is under so much pressure that he has to get rid of the ball even though someone would be open a second later.

 

[Keyser Söze]

Who else but Edelman can beat man coverage?

 

[tasmlab]

Does the ball seem to bounce off of the WRs' hands a lot recently? It seems like five receptions go incomplete even when Brady hits the WR in the hands (hands are used for catching).

 

[Kontradiction]

Nope. It’s 100% accurate. The WR position is great. Maybe tops in the NFL. They may actually be too good. The TE position? Forget about it. Completely dominant. This team bringing back Gordon and taking a shot on Brown was merely them playing with house money. They didn’t even need the two of them. They just signed those two for the hell of it. And Edelman’s injuries that have piled up are totally unrelated to the fact that he’s getting too many targets because nobody can trusted to be in the spot they need to be at on option routes. It’s just Brady force feeding him the ball for the heck of it. Phenomenal article. The writer should be nominated for a Pulitzer for this work.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Everyone saying WRs are not open is clearly not (re)watching games while everyone who argues that Brady has reached a cliff is also a bozo.

A WR who is open but is not where he is supposed to be makes being open irrelevant. Plus, few are actually getting open. The WRs besides Jules and the QB are not seeing the same things and are not making the same adjustments during the play. Not an easy fix, unfortunately, since those adjustments have to be instinctual and thinking too much makes you tentative.

 

[IllegalContact]

Constantly hearing about anything at a time you can do nothing about it is tiresome

but WR is not what’s killing the offense

no TE coupled with no FB is what is killing this team.......it comes back to what happens along the line and they’re simply not physical enough

 

[Froob]

Was watching the 2007 Pats-Ravens game the other night randomly and saw Watson in the starting lineup. Damn is he old lol. Barely have an NFL caliber tight end on the roster.

 

[Kontradiction]

Was watching the 2007 Pats-Ravens game the other night randomly and saw Watson in the starting lineup. Damn is he old lol. Barely have an NFL caliber tight end on the roster.

None of them can block worth a damn either. Considering the Patriots options would have been Fant or Knox in the draft, that still would have been an issue even if they addressed the need at the position.

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

Nobody is going to convince me Brady isn't declining. Sorry, I know what I see. Declining doesn't have to mean, "fell off a cliff". The guy is still good.

I've seen Brady miss so many throws this year that I've seen him make with ease in the past. These throws are on him. Overthrowing, underthrowing. I've seen him have time to make a play and still not make it more often this year than in past years. It's not always because nobody is open either.


That being said it looks far worse than it actually is because of the trash around him IMO. The man is 42. He can't do it like he could at 32. He's declining, no longer the best QB in the league, but I'm convinced he can still get it done with enough help around him. He's still good enough.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Everyone saying WRs are not open is clearly not (re)watching games while everyone who argues that Brady has reached a cliff is also a bozo.

Reality is that execution has been extremely inconsistent. And the reasons for this are more nuanced than pointing the finger at any player or entire unit. Sometimes a WR screwed up a route or drops a pass, sometimes Brady overthrows or underthrows them and other times -- although less frequently in the last few weeks -- he is under so much pressure that he has to get rid of the ball even though someone would be open a second later.

I believe that you are right and it is a combination of problems.

My take is that when Newhouse was starting at LT, it was almost like playing 10 vs 11.
During that time Brady developed some bad habits (just to survive) that he has not been able to shake.

 

[luuked]

A WR who is open but is not where he is supposed to be makes being open irrelevant. Plus, few are actually getting open. The WRs besides Jules and the QB are not seeing the same things and are not making the same adjustments during the play. Not an easy fix, unfortunately, since those adjustments have to be instinctual and thinking too much makes you tentative.

That is not true and the evidence can be seen in most of the rewatch threads of the last 4-5 weeks (check out @patsinthesnow breakdowns of how open Meyers was at times) or in the columns of various beat guys. Chatham's stand out most because he actually posts video clips that he narrates but unfortunately they are behind the Athletic paywall.

And to use your own words. An open receiver in the wrong place is as useless as an open receiver in the correct place when the QB once again delivers a bad throw.

 

[borg]

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

It’s possible. But the guy is also nursing Tennis Elbow. I can tell you from experience that injury is an absolute *****.

Can it go away though? Or is he fcked long-term?

 

[50-yard-line]

Is this true?

Patriots vs. Titans: Targeting lack of weapons for Tom Brady's decline growing tiresome

I'll preface this by saying that Tom Brady sits with Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, and Yaz on my list - higher, even, because of the longevity of his dominance and in a sport not built for that.

So, here goes: I agree with this article. Swap Harry and Brown, and we'd be wishing we had drafted Harry. Same with Samuel and others.

I wish they'd have gone for Sanders over Sanu - I guess they liked the cheaper $$ and the second year, but I always thought Sanders would thrive here.

Of course, that's assuming the Broncos would have traded him here, which I doubt, given the way the respective trades went down.

The part of that article with which I most agree: "Jakobi Meyers, who looked so confident in training camp and early in the season, has looked like a nervous wreck at times in recent weeks, dropping passes he was catching earlier. NFL players don’t scare easily, but maybe there is something a little intimidating about trying to please Brady."

This has not been the same Tom Brady - emotionally - since the AB disaster. Meyers is the best, but not the only example. A UDFA rookie, hoping to make it in the NFL suddenly got the yips, and from what I can see and hear, Brady did nothing to help him through it.

These are the little things that change with age. The pressure of the ticking clock, maybe the added pressure of facing Free Agency at 42, or of this being a swan-song season...it all adds up.

And of course, the elbow, and whatever lower body injury is there now, certainly hurts a lot. Again, age 42. The Pats certainly don't have a top-flight receiving corps and need to depend too much on rookies, but this isn't all on them.

It's on the scheming, on Brady (injury, attitude, age-decline?), on rotten luck (Gronk's timing, Develin's injury, Wynn's injury, Cajuste's injury, Froholdt's injury, Andrew's injury, even Johnson's injury, Gordon's tail-off, the AB debacle)...

I ain't giving up, by the way. The team that dominated Buffalo (even if the score didn't reflect it) can play with anybody any time, anywhere. have they got that team in them for four straight games?

Or is this perhaps the fitting bit of defying expectations to end the run?

 

[Kontradiction]

Can it go away though? Or is he fcked long-term?

It goes away but takes time. Took me over a month to feel normal in that arm again and I was 15 when it happened.

 

[Triumph]

Harry is a stud.

You guys were right. Pat yourselves on the back.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Can it go away though? Or is he fcked long-term?

That's the $64,000 question.

Also, knee last year. Elbow this year. What's next?

People's views of aging QBs are warped by Manning falling off the cliff because of that neck thing. That's not usually how it goes. Aging QBs are usually taken out by nagging injury after nagging injury where the fans are all "Oh, once he gets over that he'll be OK", except then it'll be something else. Also, the kinds of injuries that might bug a younger guy for a week bug the older guy for 4 weeks. So things pile up and you never can quite recover.

 

[NuckyDuck]

Yup.