“Brady held up his end of the bargain but Bill Belichick didn’t.”-Skip Bayless

[Nikolai]

I'm not a huge total yards guy, so while the 500+ yards is a crazy stat, it doesn't tell the whole story. What compliments the story is that Brady threw for 3 TDs, no picks, and made tough throws against the best (or possibly second best, depending on how you look at it) pass defense he saw all year on the biggest stage. I don't want to hear about "near picks". He had a few of those in the 4th quarter in SBLI as well; that's part of the game. He played with fire, survived and moved on. Brady did his job and then some.

If I told you before the game that Brady would had the stat line "28/48, 505 yards, 3TDs, 0INT and that we scored on the first three possessions of the second half", 99.9% of people would finish that sentence with a version of "and that's why the Pats won the Super Bowl".

 

[Kontradiction]

Huh? The Patriots took their opening possession right down the field and then sputtered in the red zone and had to settle for a FG. Had a chance to take the lead right there and didn't do it. Had a chance to plant the seed of doubt in the Eagles by shoving the ball right down their throats for 7 points on their 1st possession of the game and didn't do it. The Patriots offense was never in control of that game. Despite over 600 yards of offense they were never in control. Amazing!!

29 first downs, 6-12 on third and fourth down, 113 rushing yards, 505 passing yards, 0 INTs, 33 points (would have been 37 if not for a missed XP and a missed FG)... all while being out-possessed by nearly 10 minutes. If the offense wasn't the unit that controlled the game for this team and had them up late, which unit was? Because it certainly wasn't the defense.

 

[sb1]

As for Bayless I wouldn’t take anything he or Sharpe says on that show seriously. Bayless is a character and a role - he is the pro Brady and anti Belichick argument on that show and Sharpe is his counter. Nothing more.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

No, Brady was off the whole game. 58% completion rate is not Tom Brady.

Brady is like a surgeon on these game winning drives. He struggled yesterday and was inconsistent. A lot of time came off the clock for that 1st down.

He was 71% on the drive you brought up. Does he need 100% completion rate to not play "bad."

There were two drives in the first half they didn't score.

- The one where they kicked Brady out as a WR on 3rd and 5.

- The other was when Brady threw and moved 68 yards then they ran 3 straight running plays that failed to get a first down.

When Brady was given the ball to pass, he produced points.

 

[sb1]

Brady did have 20 incompletions which doesn’t look wonderful but he still threw for over 10.5 yards per pass attempt.

I have a hard time calling 10.5 YPA and no INTs a bad game.

 

[sambam94]

game was decided on trick plays...pats failed on theirs, eagles didn't

 

[PatsGirl2011]

I'm not a huge total yards guy, so while the 500+ yards is a crazy stat, it doesn't tell the whole story. What compliments the story is that Brady threw for 3 TDs, no picks, and made tough throws against the best (or possibly second best, depending on how you look at it) pass defense he saw all year on the biggest stage. I don't want to hear about "near picks". He had a few of those in the 4th quarter in SBLI as well; that's part of the game. He played with fire, survived and moved on. Brady did his job and then some.

If I told you before the game that Brady would had the stat line "28/48, 505 yards, 3TDs, 0INT and that we scored on the first three possessions of the second half", 99.9% of people would finish that sentence with a version of "and that's why the Pats won the Super Bowl".

I think people seriously overrated the Eagles defense. They have good depth, but their secondary is mostly trash. Josh screwed up big time with the cute plays by not attacking them down the field. Cooks getting concussed didn't help, but even though Brady was great with his throws I firmly said before the game the Eagles were overrated on D.

 

[Kontradiction]

 

[condon84]

So does Belichick get 0% credit for the offense?

We can credit him for greenlighting that Brady throwback on 3rd down

 

[Nikolai]

I think people seriously overrated the Eagles defense. They have good depth, but their secondary is mostly trash. Josh screwed up big time with the cute plays by not attacking them down the field. Cooks getting concussed didn't help, but even though Brady was great with his throws I firmly said before the game the Eagles were overrated on D.

From a talent standpoint, their secondary didn't stand out as anything special. However, what they gave up on yards per attempt was superseded only by Minnesota and on par with Jacksonville. With the Eagles, it was complementary football. Their front seven made life a little easier for their secondary. Our OL played a pretty good game I thought, and aside from the disastrous strip sack, gave Brady opportunities to do the things he did.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

Well we can do this all day because i could easily say Brady didn't hold up his end of the bargain in 2007/2011 when his offense scored 14 and 17 points.

 

[luuked]

Are we conceding that the better team won?

They finished more plays than the Patriots so they absolutely deserved to win. I dont see any issue with "conceding" this.

 

[luuked]

Our OL played a pretty good game I thought, and aside from the disastrous strip sack, gave Brady opportunities to do the things he did.

I think this was one of the finest OL performances in the Brady playoff era. Sucks that it essentially ended on that catastrophic note.

 

[Bubbatrammel]

Haha. Also I gotta say you have the best username on this forum

Yes it is. We were that bad.

 

[Triumph]

He was 71% on the drive you brought up. Does he need 100% completion rate to not play "bad."

There were two drives in the first half they didn't score.

- The one where they kicked Brady out as a WR on 3rd and 5.

- The other was when Brady threw and moved 68 yards then they ran 3 straight running plays that failed to get a first down.

When Brady was given the ball to pass, he produced points.

Brady was 33% on the last drive. Not 71%

NFL Play By Play - Eagles v Patriots | NBCSports

3 completion @ 9 attempts. You continue to make my point. 3 more completions would be a 66% completion rate and time not wasted off the clock to move the ball to the goal line.

Maybe they still would have lost, but who would not want more time and to be closer to the endzone.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Brady was 33% on the last drive. Not 71%

NFL Play By Play - Eagles v Patriots | NBCSports

3 completion @ 9 attempts. You continue to make my point. 3 more completions would be a 66% completion rate and time not wasted off the clock to move the ball to the goal line.

Maybe they still would have lost, but who would not want more time and to be closer to the endzone.

I was talking about their first drive.

But no, Brady was 3 for 8 on the last drive with 2 hail Mary's. Spiking the ball isn't an incomplete pass. That's 40 yards in 58 seconds with no time-outs needing a TD.

If you think that's bad you don't understand football.

 

[Triumph]

I was talking about their first drive.

But no, Brady was 3 for 8 on the last drive with 2 hail Mary's. Spiking the ball isn't an incomplete pass. That's 40 yards in 58 seconds with no time-outs needing a TD.

If you think that's bad you don't understand football.

I was never focusing in on the first drive.

Youre right, 1 pass was a spike. OK, Brady was 3 comps per 8 attempts for 38% pass rating on the last drive to win the game. Brady coming back to win the game is why he is who he is and not by throwing in the 38% range.

The first drive all looked good, but Brady was 60% passing and not 71% passing. He was inconsistent and not completing throws that he usually makes look easy.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I was talking about their first drive.

But no, Brady was 3 for 8 on the last drive with 2 hail Mary's. Spiking the ball isn't an incomplete pass. That's 40 yards in 58 seconds with no time-outs needing a TD.

Actually, in the official stat books spiking the ball does go down as an incomplete pass.

 

[raduray]

I get where you're going, and I think it's where we should be looking first when we perform the autopsy on this game, but I think we should keep acknowledging the poor play of the defensive players, as well.

Yes, the scrubs played poorly while one of our best defenders rode the bench.

 

[sb1]

I just realized something... when we talk about Brady's game on Sunday and praising his performance and his stats in this loss... are we (myself included) starting to sound like what Colts fans did with Forehead?