What's funny is that we thought a first down should ice the game tonight with 4:00 left, and the Patriots got not one, not two, but three. The Pats got the ball to mid-field with two minutes left and made the Ravens burn two timeouts. Brady was pinpoint accurate throughout that series.
colts on the famous 4 and 2.
Threw a perfect pass to Faulk, who ran the pattern to a T. Problem was they got a bad spot and couldn't challenge, as BB had already used up his challenges. Designed play, perfectly executed. Blame the coaching.
Against the colts in 10 he couldn't engineer a drive to close it out, James sanders saved him with a pick though.
One regular season game in a handful of games in a season where the Pats went 14-2. I bet that in those other 14 games, there were no "close-out" drives, right?
Against the giants last year in both the regular season and the super bowl his drives sputtered giving the ball back to Eli with just enough time left.
You are incorrect on the first game. Brady threw the go-ahead TD and gave Eli the ball back. For the SB, you must have missed the game and all of the offseason talk detailing the dropped passes on those drives.
Against the colts in the 06 championship game he needed just one more first down and couldn't get it
Really? A 34-point output and game-icing ball into the hands of the bug-eyed Reche Caldwell isn't enough for you?
Against the ravens last year in the title game he could not ice it, instead he threw incomplete to Hernandez which gave flacco time for that final drive that ended with a missed kick.
Admittedly, it was not his game, as the Ravens D owned him all game. Not sure if I'd blame it on unclutchness so much as just being overmatched.
BOTTOM LINE is that with all of these games you are pointing to, one thing that is noticeably missing is a supporting crew, such as a RUNNING GAME. That is why some teams invest in top running backs and fullbacks, as they don't expect the quarterback to run out the clock by passing the football. That is illogical and doesn't work. It's not really the QBs job to run out the clock with an awkward, "safe-pass" philosophy that is designed to both keep the clock moving yet throw potential clock-killing and turnover-producing passes. By your own insinuation, you are claiming that it's Brady responsibility to single-handedly close out football games with a lead. The running game is "unclutch" if anything. It's always 2nd and 11 or 3rd and 8 in virtually of all these examples.