Category: Tom Brady

Breaking down Tom Brady’s perfect pass from Week 11 win over Eagles

Ben Watson had a hand (or two hands) in making Tom Brady’s most beautiful throw happen.

Tom Brady and Ben Watson have a long-standing connection. The quarterback and tight end first linked up on Sept. 9, 2004. They’re still at it.

During the New England Patriots’ Week 11 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Brady and Watson connected for the quarterback’s prettiest throw of the night. And unfortunately for Brady, he didn’t have many.

On a second-and-12 from the 23-yard line in the second quarter, New England lined up in 22 personnel (2 TEs, 2 RB, 1 WR) with both tight ends Matt LaCosse and Watson on the right side of the formation. They were bunched with running back Brandon Bolden, who was basically set up as a wing back. The funky formation looked a little like the grouping of three wideouts know as “Trips-Bunch.” It applied the same concept: create a crowd at the line of scrimmage to create separation down the field.

And it worked — sort of. Watson managed to get enough separation for Brady to find a window for a completion. But it was an impressive display of ball-placement. With Watson running up the seam, just a stride ahead of Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox, Brady fired the ball toward the middle of the field, which forced Watson to go to the ground to make the catch. That’s likely by Brady’s design. He threw the ball to the inside to avoid the defender in-tow, and underthrew the ball to make sure Watson didn’t get absolutely hammered by safety Rodney McLeod, who was coming in to defend the pass from over the top.

The result? A beautiful 19-yard pitch-and-catch that put the Patriots on the 4-yard line.

“[Rex] Burkhead went in motion, and again,” Bill Belichick asked on the conference call on Monday. “It looked like there was a little bit of a (miscommunication) – the Eagles had to kind of slide over and adjust to that. And when the linebacker went inside to take LaCosse, then Ben was able to kind of work up the field on Maddox.

“Tom made a good throw. It was too far outside for the safety to get it and too far up the field for Maddox to get it, so it was really a good throw, a good catch. … That was kind of the tight coverage play. The other one was the third-down conversion.”

When Belichick is willing to admit Brady made a good throw, you know it was noteworthy.

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Tom Brady unloads ‘frustration’ with offense: ‘The strength of our team is our defense’

“It’s just frustration with the offense.”

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Tom Brady didn’t have to say much after the New England Patriots’ 17-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11. He made his message clear: He’s unhappy with where the offense has progressed — or regressed — to this point in the 2019 season.

Brady said very little during his postgame press conference at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia Sunday, but he didn’t seem to be reveling in the team’s win. He barely smiled when asked about Julian Edelman’s perfect passer rating. “We needed that,” Brady said Sunday. Perhaps Brady was concerned a trick play produced the only touchdown on the day.

During his weekly interview with WEEI on Monday, Brady addressed some of his concerns.

“It’s just frustration with the offense. Just trying to grind them out. I am happy we won on the road, but at the same time just wish we would have scored more points,” Brady told “The Greg Hill Show.”

New England was 5 of 16 on third downs, and averaged a paltry 4.2 yards per play. Brady completed 55.3% of his passes – his second-lowest percentage this season – for 216 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. After receiver Phillip Dorsett suffered a head injury, the quarterback was forced to work on chemistry with new wideouts like Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels also seemed to be pushing Sony Michel into a bigger role in the passing game — with mixed results. With so many players in new or growing roles, the offense looked like it was going through growing pains.

In the meantime, Brady is an accessory to his defense, which is winning games. So long as the Patriots quarterback and his offense avoid turnovers, New England can keep winning games. But as the competition gets better, particularly in the playoffs, the Patriots might be in more trouble. They might need their offense to be better.

“I just think to win the game ultimately you just have to score more points than the other team,” he told WEEI. “That goes without saying. I don’t know what it is going to be on a particular week. We won the Super Bowl 13-3, that was pretty good. We lost the Super Bowl 41-33, that wasn’t good. I don’t know how many points it is going to be. The reality is it is a team sport. It’s complementary football.

“The strength of our team is our defense and our special teams. 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.”

It seems Brady isn’t comfortable putting the game in the hands of his defense. He’d prefer the offense gets its act together and works as in complement with and not just a dependent upon the defense.

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5 takeaways from Patriots’ 17-10 win over Eagles

Here are five takeaways from the Patriots’ hard-fought win over the Eagles.

The New England Patriots are 9-1 this season, but they still have a ton of room for improvement as the postseason creeps up.

New England defeated the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in a hard-fought 17-10 game. Tom Brady and the offense struggled mightily in the red zone and the defense had a tremendous bounce-back game. The only Patriots touchdown came from a double-pass trick play that was thrown by Julian Edelman. The rest of the points came from Nick Folk field goals — which was definitely a positive from this game.

Brady understands that this offense needs to crank it up a notch before the postseason begins and that the Patriots are currently playing through the most difficult stretch of the schedule. The next three games include the Dallas Cowboy, Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. It’ll be a test for this defense and it’ll give the offense a playoff atmosphere to prepare for the postseason.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

Tom Brady has been trending in a negative direction

Either Brady’s age or the lack of protection has led to a steady decline in production for the 42 year old quarterback. With the combination of his 21 incompletions and inability to score in the red zone, Brady has relied heavily on the defense to bail him out.

Brady started off the first five games with ten touchdowns and one interception — he’s had four touchdowns and three interceptions in his last five games. The level of competition likely played a factor, and he’s also without key offensive linemen and his critical blocker with James Develin.

He was visibly frustrated in his press conference after the game and Brady is conscious of the fact that the offense isn’t clicking right now. It doesn’t help that the rushing attack has been non-existent so far this season and that the receiving corps continues to change. N’Keal Harry had a positive debut game for the Patriots and his presence along with Mohamed Sanu should play a huge role heading into the postseason.

Whether it’s Brady’s age or the lack of protection, Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels have limited time to find a solution.

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Tom Brady has brief but critical postgame presser after win over Eagles

The Patriots won their Week 11 matchup against the Eagles, but Tom Brady wasn’t happy. 

The New England Patriots won their Week 11 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, but Tom Brady wasn’t happy.

Brady finished the game with 216 passing yards and 32.5 quarterback rating — while throwing 21 incompletions. He’s only thrown 21 or more incompletions in 15 games before and the Patriots only won four of those games. The only touchdown of the game came from a Julian Edelman pass, and the rest of the points came from field goals.

Brady had a very brief press conference after the game and he was visibly frustrated after propelling his team to a 9-1 record.

Brady understands that this offense has to improve dramatically if they want to win a Super Bowl this season. New England’s matchup against the Baltimore Ravens proved that there is a more complete, talented team in the AFC and that this stellar defensive unit can’t do it themselves.

Here’s a transcript of Brady’s press conference.

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Patriots vs.Eagles: Time, TV schedule and how to stream online

How to watch Patriots vs Eagles

The New England Patriots (8-1) will come off their bye week to face the Philadelphia Eagles (5-4) in Week 11.

This is the first time that the Patriots will see the Eagles since losing to them in Super Bowl LII. New England is coming off of their first loss of the season to the Baltimore Ravens and they’re looking to redeem themselves. The defense has been incredible this season and the offense now has the additions of Mohamed Sanu and N’Keal Harry to work with.

The Eagles have had a disappointing season thus far, but they won their last two games while facing the Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears. The Patriots’ defense has struggled against the run in the past two games and the Eagles are No. 11 in rushing yards per game. They will likely try to attack New England on the ground and also go to their lethal tight end set with Zack Ertz and Dallas Goedert.

Here’s how to watch:

Game information:

New England Patriots vs Philadelphia Eagles

Sunday, Nov. 17, 4:25 p.m. ET

Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA

Streaming:

Live stream: fuboTV (try it free).

Television channels:

CBS

WBZ-TV Channel 4

Broadcasters:

Jim Nantz  (play-by-play)

Tony Romo (play-by-play)

Tracy Wolfson (sideline)

Radio:

ESPN Radio

98.5 The Sports Hub

Weather:

38 degrees

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Tom Brady offers support for Celtics guard Marcus Smart’s charity work

Tom Brady made donations for Marcus Smart’s silent auction.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady appears to be supporting Marcus Smart’s charity work on social media and at a silent auction. The Boston Celtics guard hosted a digital silent auction for his Bowling Bash, which is an effort to raise money for the YounGameChanger Foundation.

According to the event information, Smart’s foundation “helps provide families with seriously and chronically ill children with encouragement and life-changing experiences. It is also a voice of motivation, empowerment, and encouragement to inner-city young athletes to be game-changers off the court or field.”

Brady donated an autographed jersey and football for the silent auction, but he wasn’t the only Patriots to contribute. Cornerback Jason McCourty also contributed a pair of autographed and game-worn cleats.

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Tom Brady says the Patriots’ 8-1 record doesn’t matter

Records are deceiving at this time of year.

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If the New England Patriots’ most recent loss reminded us anything, it’s that records can be deceiving. New England (8-1) fell to the Baltimore Ravens (7-2), 37-20. An even more dramatic upset took place in Week 10, with the Atlanta Falcons (2-7) beating the New Orleans Saints (7-2).

So while New England is in sole ownership of the AFC’s top seed, Brady isn’t putting to much stock into the Patriots’ 8-1 record after 10 weeks.

“What I think is at this point, it doesn’t matter,” Brady told Jim Gray during an appearance on Westwood One Radio on Monday. “Because 8-1 means nothing. In 2001, we won the Super Bowl and we were 5-5. In 2015, we were 10-0 and we lost four of our last six. You don’t have to look far. You look at the NHL — how were the St. Louis Blues halfway into (last) season? How were the Houston Astros two months into the season? Not very good. The point is any team at this point, their season is going to be determined by what happens the next seven weeks of football. Not the last nine or 10 — the next seven are going to determine what happens to these teams, their seedings, the playoffs and all that.

“And from our standpoint, I’m happy we’re 8-1, but I really want us to play our best football as we move forward. Everything that’s happened to this point, we’ve got to learn from, we’ve got to use it, and we’ve got to use those things and execute under pressure against the competition that’s going to be at it’s toughest. I’m looking forward to a great opportunity for our team.”

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