tom brady

Linkage: The MMQB Podcast with Tom Brady

February 14, 2017 by Mike Dussault

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Source: Peter King, The MMQB Podcast by Sports Illustrated on iTunes

It isn’t often you get an in-depth breakdown from Brady about much of anything, much less one of his epic performances, but here it is. Fascinating to hear Brady’s perspective on one of the craziest comebacks we’ve ever seen.

Just hearing him talk football like this was awesome.

One of the most interesting points by Brady is how in every Super Bowl he’s played the defenses have had trouble stopping the offenses at the end. Never really put that together before but it’s so true.

Coffin Corner: The Foxboro Redemption

February 7, 2017 by James Conway

A wrongfully accused man is harshly sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit based entirely on shoddy circumstantial evidence. Despite his innocence, he refuses to relinquish the high road for the very sake of his soul.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Our hero refuses to let the anger in, he offers hope to those who surround him in the prison, he finds power and conviction in his desperate situation. His final appeal for exoneration is destroyed when his warden literally kills his only shot at getting out.

Apologies to the Hoodie, but the best movie to describe Deflategate isn’t “My Cousin Vinny”, it’s “Shawshank Redemption”. And Tom Brady is Andy Dufresne.

Pats Posits: Saving Their Best for Probably-Not-Their Last

February 6, 2017 by Mike Dussault

In their most thrilling Super Bowl yet, the New England Patriots came back from 25 points to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime, 34-28, cementing Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s place as the greatest Coach-QB duo in history.

A ton of new records were set or tied, including Most Super Bowls Won by a Head Coach (Bill Belichick, 5) Most Super Bowl Games (Tom Brady/Belichick, 7), most receptions (James White, 14), and Largest Deficit Overcome (25 points).

It’s taken me hours to wrap my head around this incredible victory and who knows how long it will take to fully grasp what unfolded. I never would’ve thought Brady’s performance in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 49 could be topped, but topped it was. But not before I had just about thrown in the towel.

At 28-3 in the middle of the third quarter, I dug into what I had hoped would be my Super Bowl victory cake. I was resigned that the Pats just met up with a red hot Falcons team and played their worst game of the season. Maybe they were bound to get blown out in one?

But like they always do, the Patriots never flinched. Once they cleaned up the mistakes — drops, ill-timed penalties and worst of all, turnovers — and figured out the Falcons’ coverage, Brady moved the ball at will.

Most impressive was that the legendary comeback was such a group effort. So many guys came through with clutch plays — White, Edelman, Hightower and Flowers are just three that jump out to me right away, but it was a team comeback, as much as it was Brady’s brilliance.

I can and will write thousands of words about this game, so let’s get a jump on all the analysis to come with the Posits.

Patriots Gameplan: Super Bowl Bye Week vs. The Haters

January 27, 2017 by Mike Dussault

No game this weekend so instead of a gameplan for the Pats I’m writing a gameplan for us, the Patriots fans.

It’s hard work being a Patriots fan when the games aren’t on, when we’re not kicking ass up and down the gridiron. Because we’ve been doing it for so long the countless blowhard pundits who need people talking about them often have our team in their crosshairs.

All you have to do these days is have a dumb opinion about Tom Brady and it’s going to spread like wildfire. Just ask Chris Simms.

The Pats’ merits are debated both at macro (Deflators! Videotapers!) and micro (Tom Brady can’t throw deep!, the defense hasn’t played anybody!) levels, because that’s what “sports media” is now and it’s annoying as hell to have to deal with for Patriots fans.

What can you do, New Englanders are passionate about their sports and that passion only seeps into all the other Patriots fans around the globe. I know because I hear from them. From places like Brazil and Germany and Hungary to name a few.

The support of this team runs deep everywhere by those who can appreciate excellent, once-in-a-lifetime quality football.

But this weekend let’s take a moment to appreciate what we have in this football team. How lucky we are that in this crazy world we have a diversion that has brought us all so much joy over the last decade-and-a-half.

Let’s take a short trip down memory lane for some perspective.

Breaking Down Tom Brady’s Conference Championship Struggles

January 18, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The conference championship is the best football game of the year. It lacks the exhibition feel of the Super Bowl, is often out in miserable elements and feels as close to “real” football as we can get these days. Yet somehow it hasn’t always been Tom Brady’s best game.

The Patriots have played in 10 AFC Championship games since 2001 and will set a record with their sixth-straight on Sunday. They won six of those 10, but have lost three of their last four. Tom Brady‘s had his share of struggles, which is of course somewhat understandable since you’re usually playing the best team in your conference, and often one that is familiar with you.

Here’s the breakdown of Brady’s stats in the AFC Championship.

Brady’s career completion percentage is 63.8 percent, which drops to 61.3 percent in the AFC Championship. His career QB rating is 97.2, which drops off a cliff to 80.7 in the AFC Championship.

But again, each game is unique, so let’s take a quick look at why Brady could be due for a bounceback this Sunday.

Breaking Down Patriots Renewed Offensive Balance

January 4, 2017 by Sam Hollister

The Patriots locked up the top seed in the AFC Sunday with a 35-14 dispatching of the Dolphins, giving New England home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, an essential piece to the Patriots Super Bowl puzzle. The win was the Patriots 14th on the season, and while much of that success has been (rightfully) credited to the incredible resurgence on defense, a large component of this triumphant 2016 campaign has been the renewed balance between running and passing offensively. We know that Tom Brady has the ability to drop back and pass 50 times without much help from the run game and still will the Patriots to a win (see Divisional Round, 2014), but we have also seen just how vulnerable the Patriots become when Brady is asked to win the game by himself (see, 2016 AFC Championship Game). The lack of balance was one of the biggest factor that contributed to New England’s early exit last January, which is why instilling a consistent balance between run and pass will prove to be crucial as we head into the postseason.

Last season, according to Kevin Duffy of MassLive.com, the Patriots had their worst run/pass ratio in recent years, passing the ball 62% of the time and rushing on only 38% of plays. Coincidentally, the Patriots rushing attack ranked 30th in the NFL, which allowed teams like the Broncos to drop numbers off the ball and flood Brady’s passing lanes, without needing to give much thought to the run game. Granted, part of the lack of success running the football can be attributed to losing LeGarrette Blount to a hip injury in Week 14, but even with him, the rushing attack was still on pace to finish near the bottom in rush yards. The Patriots called upon the corpse of Steven Jackson and special-teamer Brandon Bolden to take the bulk of the carries in the AFC Championship Game, and as well as know, it did not go well.

Pats Posits: Primed, Again

December 18, 2016 by Mike Dussault

2016 AFC East Champs!

The Patriots locked up the AFC East championship and a first round playoff bye with their 16-3 win over the Broncos, moving to 12-2 on the season, and putting to rest some of their Denver demons.

Yup, if you didn’t love the 2016 Patriots before impressive wins over Baltimore and Denver, you sure do now!

The victory was perhaps the most complete of the season, with the defense completely neutralizing Denver’s offense in the second half and becoming the top scoring defense in the NFL; the offense capitalizing in key spots while maintaining excellent balance; and the special teams generally dominating every hidden yard there was.

With just two games to go, the Patriots look as primed as ever to make a run at another Super Bowl. But they might need to win both to secure homefield.

More on the Pats’ playoff aspirations and a feel-great win over the Broncos…