Is Brady having some subpar games? Or is he physically declining.

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

I don't recall the sky falling after any of the 42 other games.

OK, I was wrong. Tom's worst game was the 31-0 loss to Buffalo, after which the sky was falling and the Patriots players all "hate their coach"

 

[Patjew]

When Brady has had time and space to execute proper mechanics, including stepping into his throws, his throws have been on the money. The zip and accuracy is still there.

But when he's pushed off his spot, or he is rushed or senses a rush, his mechanics turn crappy.

Am I wrong to think that in the past he could better overcome being pushed off his spot? It sure feels that way to me.

It also feels like he throws it away much earlier than in the past.

What do you think?

 

[farn]

Nobody knows when Brady will start being less effective. We have been blessed to witness the greatness so long that every time he keeps it up, it’s a bonus.

He has stolen games that NE had no business winning, including some on the biggest stage...

I don’t think 2018 is the year everything goes awry, but if it is, I have nothing but respect for his defying of the odds until now.

Here’s hoping he bounces back and allows us to ask this question again in 2020.

 

[upstater1]

For me, Brady has had bad mechanics this year. There could be any reason for it, but he is throwing off his back foot a lot, and maybe it's just a bit of hurrying things up too much and not being comfortable, so when someone gets open, he's not set.

 

[IcyPatriot]

OK, I was wrong. Tom's worst game was the 31-0 loss to Buffalo, after which the sky was falling and the Patriots players all "hate their coach"

The forum melted down with that loss ... server over load.
we had some members gnawing on each others flesh.

.

 

[varjao]

I hope Burkhead is 100%, he could be of some help.

 

[CISGS]

I think Hogan needs to take a seat. The guy hasn’t got separation all season and has been outplayed by Dorsett.

 

[slash83]

I’m going to reserve my judgement until the very end of the season. Let’s see how he looks with what should be a pretty healthy Gronk, Sony fully back into the mix, Mason back at guard. If he continues his average play throughout the season then I’ll be worried.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Tom Brady in relation to rest of the league - TD, Yards Per Game, Passer rating

2002: 28 (1st), 235 (7th), 85.7 (9th)
2003: 23 (10th), 226 (9th), 85.9 (10th)
2004: 28 (6th), 231 (15th), 92.6 (9th)
2005: 26 (3rd), 257 (4th), 92.3 (6th)
2006: 24 (4th), 221 (9th), 87.9 (9th)
2007: 50 (1st), 300 (1st), 117.2 (1st)
2009: 28 (6th), 275 (7th), 96.2 (9th)
2010: 36 (1st), 244 (13th), 111 ( 1st)
2011: 39 (4th), 327 (2nd), 105.6 (3rd)
2012: 34 (4th), 302 (4th), 98.7 (6th)
2013: 25 (11th), 271 (7th), 87.3 (17th)
2014: 33 (5th), 257 (13th), 97.4 (5th)
2015: 36 (1st), 298 (4th), 102.2 (4th)
2016: 28 (7th - 37 TD pace would be 3rd), 296 (4th), 112.2 (2nd)
2017: 32 (3rd), 286 (1st), 102.8 (3rd)
-------------------------------------------
2018: 17 (11th), 275 (12th), 94.7 (16th)

Brady's on pace to have one of his worst statistical seasons of his career in relation to the rest of the league. 2006 & 2013 are considered his worst supporting casts.

2014 week 5 to SB 52 is one of the greatest stretches of play in any professional sport. It's fair to question if Brady is still that same player. He's 41 & was absolutely incredible during portions of that stretch (1st half of 2015 rivaled 2007).

However, get Shaq Mason/Michel back to full speed along with some form of 2017 Gronk & I still believe he can produce at a high level. His play action stat are near the top of the league & the team's running game was performing well a few weeks back.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Tom Brady in relation to rest of the league - TD, Yards Per Game, Passer rating

2002: 28 (1st), 235 (7th), 85.7 (9th)
2003: 23 (10th), 226 (9th), 85.9 (10th)
2004: 28 (6th), 231 (15th), 92.6 (9th)
2005: 26 (3rd), 257 (4th), 92.3 (6th)
2006: 24 (4th), 221 (9th), 87.9 (9th)
2007: 50 (1st), 300 (1st), 117.2 (1st)
2009: 28 (6th), 275 (7th), 96.2 (9th)
2010: 36 (1st), 244 (13th), 111 ( 1st)
2011: 39 (4th), 327 (2nd), 105.6 (3rd)
2012: 34 (4th), 302 (4th), 98.7 (6th)
2013: 25 (11th), 271 (7th), 87.3 (17th)
2014: 33 (5th), 257 (13th), 97.4 (5th)
2015: 36 (1st), 298 (4th), 102.2 (4th)
2016: 28 (7th - 37 TD pace would be 3rd), 296 (4th), 112.2 (2nd)
2017: 32 (3rd), 286 (1st), 102.8 (3rd)
-------------------------------------------
2018: 17 (11th), 275 (12th), 94.7 (16th)

Brady's on pace to have one of his worst statistical seasons of his career in relation to the rest of the league. 2006 & 2013 are considered his worst supporting casts.

2014 week 5 to SB 52 is one of the greatest stretches of play in any professional sport. It's fair to question if Brady is still that same player. He's 41 & was absolutely incredible during portions of that stretch (1st half of 2015 rivaled 2007).

However, get Shaq Mason/Michel back to full speed along with some form of 2017 Gronk & I still believe he can produce at a high level. His play action stat are near the top of the league & the team's running game was performing well a few weeks back.

Last sentence says it all. Get more balanced. Sony and the OL have 2 weeks to heal up. Hopefully we see a run game to help brady out.

 

[Dr Pain]

I see a decline in arm strength and accuracy. It is made all the worse by weaknesses elsewhere. He has declined but not to the point where I think he is any sort of problem, just others need to do better to maintain dominance.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Am I wrong to think that in the past he could better overcome being pushed off his spot? It sure feels that way to me.

It also feels like he throws it away much earlier than in the past.

What do you think?

He's definitely not as accurate with the ball, probably because he's not getting the protection that he needs.

@KontradictioN said it yesterday (and Ryan Clark said it on ESPN today), but teams are figuring out that the Pats are running with Michel in the game and passing when White is in. Josh needs to get more creative on offense.

 

[Jangles]

He's winning and playing pretty well now too.

Winning, playing well....

Not so much

 

[mgcolby]

He looks normal to me. Just seems to be forcing it a bit too much to Gordon in my opinion.

 

[upstater1]

I see a decline in arm strength and accuracy. It is made all the worse by weaknesses elsewhere. He has declined but not to the point where I think he is any sort of problem, just others need to do better to maintain dominance.

When he has had time, he has ripped it with the same strength and accuracy as before.

The real truth is that none of us know the answer, as to whether it is a question of mechanics or arm strength loss. We've seen him this year throw lasers, and a bunch of inaccurate passes. Both can be true. He could have the same arm strength and same accuracy, but he could be struggling with a bunch of other things that make it seem as though he's not throwing the way he used to.

I'll say this: the Patriots and Brady in particular have been called out this week, by former players and former Patriots, by a bunch of talking heads. We'll see if they punch back.

And I'll remind people that the Bills won 41-10 this week. That's the NFL for you.

 

[gronksmash]

Everyone on the offense has been playing like they are 41 years old other then James White.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

As we all know Tom no likey when pash rush spidey sense is on full alert

 

[Soliel]

This receiving corps, while creative and fun to watch at times, is not what it was last year in any sense of the idea. No cooks, no Danny. Losing either is bad, both is kind of a lot to replace smoothly or quickly

 

[rochrist]

The starting DT are awful. Guy is a useful rotational piece but the rest are trash and hopefully the team rebuilds that position in the offseason. Brown and Shelton are very low end starters at best (I’d argue they’re backup quality players) and shouldn’t be primary guys for a team with Super Bowl hopes.

He's on pace for 25 sacks. For a QB who is less mobile at this point than Drew Bledsoe, that's hardly being under siege.

 

[PP2]

Am I wrong to think that in the past he could better overcome being pushed off his spot? It sure feels that way to me.

It also feels like he throws it away much earlier than in the past.

What do you think?

Right now I am just going to ignore all the noise and just take a hard look at everything first hand and look at as much all-22 as I can check out before rendering judgment. A lot of the horseshit about Brady "declining" are uneducated comments.

What I know right now is that when Brady has time/space, the zip and accuracy is still there.

What happens when he is under pressure? I don't have a handle on that yet. It could be any number of reasons. Hopefully I can get a chance to rewatch the game and just focus on that one thing.

However, the last time we had a healthy Gronk, Edelman, Gordon, White, and Shaq, we hung 43 on the Chiefs. It's been a revolving door on offense lately and I wouldn't blame Brady for becoming skittish and throwing the ball away more often than usual.