A Frustrated Tom Brady Lets Loose About Where Offense Stands Through 11 Weeks
Despite a victory, Tom Brady isn’t very happy. The New England Patriots quarterback was a man of few words during Sunday’s postgame press conference, following their 17-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots are now 9-1 and 1st place in the AFC East, and the Eagles sit at an even 5-5 and are in 2nd place in the NFC East.
Clad in a camouflage jacket and a tired expression, Brady answered nine questions and thanked the press before letting other teammates do the talking. It’s easy to understand Brady’s brevity; it appears that there’s mounting frustration with the offense as well as himself.
In the first half of Sunday's game, Brady threw a career-high 14 incompletions. By the time the clocked ran out, Brady had hit 21 incomplete passes during the matchup. Prior to today, Brady had thrown 21 or more incompletions in a regular season game 15 times in his career, per Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. The sporadic passing game for New England generated just seven points in the victory over Philadelphia - but the passing touchdown didn't even come from Brady; it was thrown by Julian Edelman to Phillip Dorsett on a trick play.
Brady's comments about the offense were equally as short, saying, “up and down. That’s what it looks like to me. We probably could do everything better.
When asked about the Patriots defense, Brady almost cracked a smile, saying “they’re doing a great job. Keeping us in every game.”
The 42-year-old eyes squinted, lips pursed in between each question, appearing agitated and ready for the conference to be over. In less than two minutes, it was; Brady turned on his heel and left — the frustration, the inconsistent playing appears to be wearing on the veteran quarterback.
The future Hall of Fame quarterback's frustration carried into Monday morning, when he gave a very blunt but honest analysis of where the 2019 Patriots stack up on both sides of the ball during a radio interview on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Morning Show".
"The strength of our team is our defense and our special teams," he said. "On offense we just have to take advantage when we get opportunities and understand where our strengths lie and try and play to them, not giving any short fields, not turning the ball over and try and take advantage when we get into the red area to score touchdowns. That is kind of where our offense is. That is kind of where our team is.”
A shaky offense 11 weeks into the regular season doesn’t bode well for the Patriots for the rest of the regular season and beyond. A defense that carries a team can only do so for so long. The offense needs to put points on the board if they want to play into February.
Hopefully things will go a little more smoothly when New England faces off against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 24 at Gillette Stadium. The potential return of starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn will certainly give a good boost the Patriots offense. He is eligible to be activated from injured reserve this week.
