NFL teams
ESPNBoston.com 9y

Tom Brady: Struggles go far back

NFL, New England Patriots

Coming off one of the worst losses of his career, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on Wednesday morning acknowledged his team's struggles on offense this season, noting, "I don't think we've played well for a long time."

Brady, who was pulled early from Monday night's blowout loss to Kansas City, made the comments as his team tries to put together the pieces of an offense that turned over the ball three times against the Chiefs and is ranked 23rd in the NFL in total yardage this season.

"That's obviously going to reflect in every statistic that you can find, that we don't have the kind of offense that's going to perform at a high level," Brady said in his weekly interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI 93.7 FM. "Everyone's connected. It all ties together. If we're not playing well, we're not going to have good stats."

Brady finished the game 14-for-23 for 159 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions -- including one that Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah returned for a touchdown and ended the quarterback's night early in the fourth quarter.

Brady hasn't been the only issue on offense, however. The offensive line has not given him enough time to throw, and the team's pass-catchers have underperformed as well, save for receiver Julian Edelman.

"There is no magic play, there's no magic scheme," Brady said. "It is us as players playing better -- a lot better than we're playing."

At his Wednesday news conference, the 37-year-old Brady was asked about speculation that he is past his prime.

"I'm doing the best job I can do out there," he said. "I'll try to go out there and play better, play as well as I possibly can each week."

He also reiterated that he hasn't lost faith in the offense: "I trust all the guys in our locker room."

Coach Bill Belichick sidestepped questions when asked about the Patriots' offensive struggles Wednesday.

"We are on to Cincinnati," he said.

Asked about Brady's age, Belichick said, "We are on to Cincinnati. There's nothing about the past, nothing about the future. Right now we are preparing for Cincinnati."

Asked about whether the Patriots have given their star QB enough weapons, the coach repeated, "We are getting ready for Cincinnati. That's what we are doing."

The Pats host the undefeated Bengals on Sunday night.

Brady told WEEI that he wasn't "overanalyzing" Belichick's decision to replace him with rookie Jimmy Garoppolo in the fourth quarter.

"I just do what I'm told ...," Brady said. "We were getting our butts kicked. So it was a situation where we didn't have a good game, and that's what Coach [Belichick] wanted us to do and that's what we did."

In relief of Brady, Garoppolo went 6-for-7 for 70 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski. After that scoring strike, cameras locked in on Brady on the sideline. Unlike some of his teammates, the future Hall of Famer did not approach Garoppolo to congratulate him.

"I'm really not [aware of the cameras]," Brady told WEEI when asked about the criticism he has taken for not high-fiving Garoppolo. "When we lose there's really not a lot -- even when we win, I think it's just important to not ride the roller coaster of emotions. You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.

"I was happy for Jimmy. I was happy for our team. We kept fighting at the end. That's a good thing. The more good players we have, the better we will be as a team. So, I didn't pay attention to any of those things. I was obviously disappointed that the outcome of the game was what it was. It's been very frustrating all season the way that we have performed offensively. But we are trying to figure it out to become a better offense."

Brady said things "snowballed" early, leaving the team to play catch-up. He was asked whether he could place a grade on himself after the game.

"Well, I can play better," Brady told WEEI. "I think that's how I would grade it. There's decisions and things I need to do a better job of. I don't grade myself. But I know I can play better than the way I'm playing."

Brady also knows the Patriots are far from out of it.

"We are 2-2. It's not a great record. Could be worse, could be better," he said at the news conference. "And we could have played better. Could have played worse, too. We just have to find ways to do the right job."

ESPNBoston.com's Lee Schechter contributed to this report.

^ Back to Top ^