This Could Be A Long Year

Most of the comments I’m seeing are saying that the patriots have problems on defense. I’ll admit , they have a few there (like the inability to get anywhere near the opposing team’s quarterback), but for me the real problem is Tom Brady and the offensive coordinator.

Brady just does not look comfortable out there. He’s shying away from contact, throwing off his back foot, and rushing his throws, which is resulting in a lot of really bad looking passes. Before his injury he was completing nearly 70 percent of his passes, and a lot of the passes that were incomplete were fairly risky ones that were either very close, or in a place where only his guy could make a play on it or it would be on the ground or out of bounds. Now he looks like he’s opting for the safest passes, and is still missing by a lot on many of them because he’s rushing them. Which is funny in a way, because before the play starts he is taking so much time off the clock that they had back-to-back delay of game penalties at one point, and routinely just get the ball snapped with one second left on the clock. There just seems to be no rhythm at all in to the offense. Which brings us to the offensive coordinator.

It seems pretty obvious by now that the guy calling the plays (the quarterback coach, who’s only experience calling plays was for Duke. DUKE!; a team that has lost more games than any other team in college football the past 10 years) has no idea what he is doing. Where are all the screens and misdirection plays that used to be called to slow down the blitz? Where are the quick passes to the wide receivers right at the line of scrimmage to allow them to make yards after the catch? Where are the draw plays? The play action passes. The offense has become too predictable. Losing Jerod Mayo was bad. So was losing Richard Seymour. And Mike Vrabel. But the loss of Josh McDaniels to the Broncos may be the biggest loss the team has suffered. When he called the plays defenses were kept off balance. There was a sense that he would call any play in the playbook at any time. THEY were the confused ones. Now it looks like the patriots’ offense is confused.

I was shocked to see Brady sitting alone on the bench when the defense was on the field, often not even looking at the game. He had his head down a lot, and looked dejected and confused. I’m used to seeing him sitting with the receivers, or standing on the sidelines next to the coaches.

I have a feeling that it could be a very long year. I’ve read stories about other quarterbacks who had the same injury as Tom, and they all say it takes a full year of playing to get back to where they were before. I assumed that because Brady was a better quarterback than the others (Carson Palmer, Dante Culpepper, Randall Cunningham) and didn’t rely on his legs as much (as his head) that he would be back to his old self a lot sooner. It appears I was wrong. My hope now is that the Pats can keep in the playoff hunt for the first half of the year while Brady gets his act together and the offensive coordinator gets a clue, and then they could make a run in the second half of the year. I was predicting 13 wins or better this year. Now I’m hoping for 10, and that 10 will be enough to get into the playoffs. They should be 0-2 now. I think next week they lose to the Falcons. Then they play Baltimore, which suddenly can score points as well as play terrific defense. They could be 1-3 easily after that game. Then they go to Denver. Another potential loss. They should still beat Tennessee and Tampa Bay before the Bye Week, but by then they could be 3-4, when I expected at least 5-2 and quite possibly 6-1. The second half of the year (always assuming that the offense gets it in gear) should be easier. Except for the games against Indianapolis and New Orleans, the rest of the games look winnable. They could go 7-2. That would put them at 10-6 and could get them in the playoffs. Whether they do anything in the playoffs will depend almost entirely on Tom Brady. Right now they don’t even look like a playoff team. And Tom Brady doesn’t look like Tom Brady.