Vic Carruci's take on Brady

Talk about mailing in absolutely mind-numbing crap Vic...

"Branch's absence clearly takes plenty away from the Patriots offense, but I find it hard to believe that losing one player is enough to cause Brady's performance to plummet so dramatically. I'm not alone, which is why inquiring minds are seeking answers. "

No **** Sherlock - but he lost 2 players and they hapened to be his #1 and #2 WR's for the last 3 seasons. How do you think Peyton Manning would respond if Polian let Reggie Wayne walk and then decided to trade a disgruntled Marvin Harrison for good measure?

"Maybe opposing defenses have finally caught up with him and are taking away enough elements of the Patriots' spread passing attack to make Brady less effective." Maybe New England's offensive coaches need to do a better job of countering the strategy by opposing defensive strategists. Or maybe, someone else, such as recently acquired Doug Gabriel or rookie Chad Jackson, has to step up and become Brady's new go-to target."

Or maybe Einstein it's not anything opposing defenses took away but the fact that his own FO eliminated all the existing functional elements of the Patriots spread passing attack. And sure it would be nice for Doug Gabriel or Chad Jackson to step up and become Brady's new go to target. Although I think you have to PLAY FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER EVERY THREE WEEKS to be a viable go to option.

MoLewisrocks said:

Talk about mailing in absolutely mind-numbing crap Vic...

"Branch's absence clearly takes plenty away from the Patriots offense, but I find it hard to believe that losing one player is enough to cause Brady's performance to plummet so dramatically. I'm not alone, which is why inquiring minds are seeking answers. "

No **** Sherlock - but he lost 2 players and they hapened to be his #1 and #2 WR's for the last 3 seasons. How do you think Peyton Manning would respond if Polian let Reggie Wayne walk and then decided to trade a disgruntled Marvin Harrison for good measure?

"Maybe opposing defenses have finally caught up with him and are taking away enough elements of the Patriots' spread passing attack to make Brady less effective." Maybe New England's offensive coaches need to do a better job of countering the strategy by opposing defensive strategists. Or maybe, someone else, such as recently acquired Doug Gabriel or rookie Chad Jackson, has to step up and become Brady's new go-to target."

Or maybe Einstein it's not anything opposing defenses took away but the fact that his own FO eliminated all the existing functional elements of the Patriots spread passing attack. And sure it would be nice for Doug Gabriel or Chad Jackson to step up and become Brady's new go to target. Although I think you have to PLAY FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER EVERY THREE WEEKS to be a viable go to option.

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It's assinine alright, perhaps there would be less of this cheesecloth journalism if there was punishment, say, locked in a room with Joe Theismann for 20 minutes.

You have to wonder if any of these National writers actually WATCH all the games they write about. It seems to me that what most of them do is read the recap, look at the highlights, read the other drivel out there, and then come up with a story based solely on those elements. Rediculous.

Damn Bill Belichick, I've asked him repeatedly to fire Charlie Weis and now Josh McDaniel and hire NEM as the OC and turn the offense over to him completely.

Actually, I thought Vic's take was pretty accurate.

MoLewisrocks said:

Talk about mailing in absolutely mind-numbing crap Vic...

"Branch's absence clearly takes plenty away from the Patriots offense, but I find it hard to believe that losing one player is enough to cause Brady's performance to plummet so dramatically. I'm not alone, which is why inquiring minds are seeking answers. "

No **** Sherlock - but he lost 2 players and they hapened to be his #1 and #2 WR's for the last 3 seasons. How do you think Peyton Manning would respond if Polian let Reggie Wayne walk and then decided to trade a disgruntled Marvin Harrison for good measure?

"Maybe opposing defenses have finally caught up with him and are taking away enough elements of the Patriots' spread passing attack to make Brady less effective." Maybe New England's offensive coaches need to do a better job of countering the strategy by opposing defensive strategists. Or maybe, someone else, such as recently acquired Doug Gabriel or rookie Chad Jackson, has to step up and become Brady's new go-to target."

Or maybe Einstein it's not anything opposing defenses took away but the fact that his own FO eliminated all the existing functional elements of the Patriots spread passing attack. And sure it would be nice for Doug Gabriel or Chad Jackson to step up and become Brady's new go to target. Although I think you have to PLAY FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER EVERY THREE WEEKS to be a viable go to option.

Click to expand...

Or mabey TB needs to start better corners than troy and caldwell! With all the ballwashing of Peyton and Carson going on, look who they are throwing the ball to. If anyone switched positions with TB, they would do much worse than he is now!

That Was Despair on Our Boy's Face

NEM said:

This sentence is the most on target from that article
Maybe New England's offensive coaches need to do a better job of countering the strategy by opposing defensive strategists.

Click to expand...

Bingo. he needs new plays that suit these new WRs.
i really didn't like that disconsolate look on TB's face. he doesn't have his "move-the-chains" passes anymore. 1) that quick out he used to throw to twig, the route they had practiced 10,000 times over 4 years. TB could get a completion without looking, to overstate the point.
2) that quick inside slant to givens. he & TB had that route down cold as well. virtuallly an automatic 5 yard completion. givens took pride in catching that ball and taking a serious hit a millisecond later. his 220 lbs was really good for that.

the offensive coaches can't keep running the Twig/Givens pass plays with caldwell standing in for branch and 'whoever' playing the Givens role. caldwell is clearly not up to it. the word "weak" pops into my head.
gabriel may have some promise in the givens role, but he and TB have to practice that slant at least 1,000 times before they both know exactly where the ball should be. further, why should TB even bother putting in the time with him when it's not even certain gabriel' gonna be here all season?

so TB's lost his 2 favorite, bread-and-butter plays, the ones that kept the LBs from moving forward on every snap, that caused the Back 7 to float instead of charging. that affects EVERYTHING else., including the way some of the watson patterns are run.

these WRs are clearly nfl fringe players, not first-rate guys. so his WRs suck, he has nothing to throw to them, and there's no point in getting in synch with them. anyway. so TB has had his bread and butter taken away.

why, why, why, would BB/SP blow off a chance to lock down their star QB's greatest assets? why put him out there with nfl fringe players and expect him to win games? do BB/SP disrespect EVERYTHING in favor of their goddam "system"? if so, then they disrespect TB.

Bottom Line is:
TOM BRADY IS THE VICTIM OF HIS OWN SUCCESS!

Never has any player in the NFL started out a career as stellar as Tom Brady. That means fans, media and even fellow NFL players are not giving him any leeway! Sad, but true - we are a 'What have you done for me Lately' society.

MoLewisrocks said:

Or maybe Einstein it's not anything opposing defenses took away but the fact that his own FO eliminated all the existing functional elements of the Patriots spread passing attack. And sure it would be nice for Doug Gabriel or Chad Jackson to step up and become Brady's new go to target. Although I think you have to PLAY FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER EVERY THREE WEEKS to be a viable go to option.

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Right, it had nothing to do with Brady under throwing and over throwing several WRs all game long.

Yes it hurts to loose your 2 main targets, but that's no excuse for the terrible throws he had all game long when the WRs WERE open. On several occasions he just threw the ball away, when he had protection and plenty of time to see what developed.

Displaced - Fan said:

Right, it had nothing to do with Brady under throwing and over throwing several WRs all game long.

Yes it hurts to loose your 2 main targets, but that's no excuse for the terrible throws he had all game long when the WRs WERE open. On several occasions he just threw the ball away, when he had protection and plenty of time to see what developed.

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So Brady deserves no leeway here...?

Re: That Was Despair on Our Boy's Face

ilduce06410 said:

Bingo. he needs new plays that suit these new WRs.
i really didn't like that disconsolate look on TB's face. he doesn't have his "move-the-chains" passes anymore. 1) that quick out he used to throw to twig, the route they had practiced 10,000 times over 4 years. TB could get a completion without looking, to overstate the point.
2) that quick inside slant to givens. he & TB had that route down cold as well. virtuallly an automatic 5 yard completion. givens took pride in catching that ball and taking a serious hit a millisecond later. his 220 lbs was really good for that.

the offensive coaches can't keep running the Twig/Givens pass plays with caldwell standing in for branch and 'whoever' playing the Givens role. caldwell is clearly not up to it. the word "weak" pops into my head.
gabriel may have some promise in the givens role, but he and TB have to practice that slant at least 1,000 times before they both know exactly where the ball should be. further, why should TB even bother putting in the time with him when it's not even certain gabriel' gonna be here all season?

so TB's lost his 2 favorite, bread-and-butter plays, the ones that kept the LBs from moving forward on every snap, that caused the Back 7 to float instead of charging. that affects EVERYTHING else., including the way some of the watson patterns are run.

these WRs are clearly nfl fringe players, not first-rate guys. so his WRs suck, he has nothing to throw to them, and there's no point in getting in synch with them. anyway. so TB has had his bread and butter taken away.

why, why, why, would BB/SP blow off a chance to lock down their star QB's greatest assets? why put him out there with nfl fringe players and expect him to win games? do BB/SP disrespect EVERYTHING in favor of their goddam "system"? if so, then they disrespect TB.

Click to expand...

What are you saying here? That Gabriel might be traded by the end of the season? Or that he is going to be on IR soon?

Do you realize that Gabriel is signed through 2007 with relatively modest salary numbers? I can't for the life of me think of a reason that he doesn't make it through 2006 at least, and he would have to be pretty bad to not be brought back for 2007.

Besides that, why would he bother putting in the time with Gabriel? Maybe because he is on the team?

Displaced - Fan said:

Right, it had nothing to do with Brady under throwing and over throwing several WRs all game long.

Yes it hurts to loose your 2 main targets, but that's no excuse for the terrible throws he had all game long when the WRs WERE open. On several occasions he just threw the ball away, when he had protection and plenty of time to see what developed.

Click to expand...

I trust the best QB in the game when he throws it away instead of throwing a pick, no matter what thousands of armchair QBs thought they saw.

People fail to mention the balls that Brady had DROPPED by his WRs, specifically two drops by Watson that would have extended drives.

MoLewisrocks said:

No **** Sherlock - but he lost 2 players and they hapened to be his #1 and #2 WR's for the last 3 seasons. How do you think Peyton Manning would respond if Polian let Reggie Wayne walk and then decided to trade a disgruntled Marvin Harrison for good measure?

Click to expand...

I think Manning would be doing better than Brady is right now.

That said, I don't think opposing defenses have "caught up" to him. On that one drive he was hitting everyone and everything, it was just the crappy playcalling that did him in.

I think Brownfan80 is on the money re the "experts"and their analysis of certain players and or teams.

NEM said:

This sentence is the most on target from that article

Maybe New England's offensive coaches need to do a better job of countering the strategy by opposing defensive strategists.

Click to expand...

True Dat

Who dey who dey think going to beat those Bengals

primetime said:

I think Manning would be doing better than Brady is right now.

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Go ask a Colts fan if they believe that. We know Bill Polian doesn't.

I watched the game again last night and I really think too much has been made about Brady's dejected attitude - I certainly didnt see any pouting in the first half, even though the following happened...

a) Dillon seemed to get banged up on the 3rd play of the first drive, and only played two more downs, one in the second drive and one at midway through the 2nd quarter (each ineffective 2 yards).

b) Dillon's last play was obscured by Light's knee injury - potentially opening the path to Brady's blind side.

c) Denver took away the only other running game the Pats had by covering the weak side consistently (bad play call from McDaniels)

d) Good Pats drive ended in blocked field goal

e) Denver replied with touchdown with less than 45 seconds on the clock.


The first half wasnt that bad, and neither was the 4th quarter drive that ended in the Gabriel touchdown. Denver just lit up the score board with two good plays be Plummer/Walker.

However the 3rd quarter and the rest of the 4th were noticable for the fact that the Broncos closed down the receivers, in fact it wasnt until Brady went to the hurry up offense that the receivers finally had breathing room to create separation.

Without a running game, with close coverage on the WR or their inability to get open (take your choice) and the defence giving up 2 huge big plays I just think that Brady got upset that the Broncos had taken away the Pat's strengths and there was no chance for revenge on the playoff game. I couldnt see all the WR routes, but with Brady/play calls ignoring the right side of the field (Champ Bailley too much of a threat), I do believe it was Denver closing down the limited routes the WR were running.

Not much TB could do about it all, and being an emotional guy he felt that he had disappointed his team and fanbase. Final analysis is there is nothing wrong with Brady. Given the circumstances he played an pretty good game, but of course few people have given him the credit.