Has the Tom Brady/Bill Bellichick era of Patriot dominance in the 2000s ended? Two games behind the Dolphins?



… too early to tell

To say that all is not well in Patriot-land would be an understatement. New England fans are thinking the unthinkable: Is Tom Brady’s career finally coming to an end?

That is the result of two back-to-back losses, the first to Jacksonsville last week (31-20) and the second to the Detroit Lions (26-10) on Sunday night before a nation-wide audience. ESPN explained how unusual that is. “This is the first time the Patriots have lost back-to-back games by double digits since Dec. 16-22, 2002 against the Jets and Titans. They've played 244 games during that stretch.”

The concern for the Pats is the performance of Brady. He threw for just 133 yards and one TD, which gave him a QB rating of 65.1. That is pretty pathetic for a gunslinger who ended the past three seasons with QB ratings of 102, 112, and 102. He has a lifetime rating of 97.5, so that is more than 30 points below his lifetime average.

When you score just ten points against the 0-2 Lions, who gave up 48 points to the Jets in the season opener, perhaps major surgery is essential. However, maybe it is not just Brady and the offense. Maybe the front office deserves some of the blame. Perhaps their talent level is not what it once was.

For instance, why in the world did they trade for one of the most troubled receivers in football, Josh Gordon, last week? Gordon missed two of his six seasons with the Browns because of substance abuse violations. How does someone like that fit into their overall schemata for the future?

Brady, though, is the concern. At the age of 41, and with a book detailing his sometimes problematic relationship with Bellichick that came out recently, the New England fans have an eerie feeling that the end may be near. While defense wins championships, according to experts, and while Bellichick has been the architect, the truth is that without Brady, the franchise will no doubt struggle.

Many NFLfans, and I am among them, will welcome the demise of the Pats, but do not count them out — yet. The season is very young.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering the toughest loss I ever experienced in approximately a quarter-century of coaching football. George Pasierb was a great coaching adversary.

Image
R.I.P. George Pasierb, 1946-2020 Shade-Central City High School football coach Photo: Tribune-Democrat No high school football fan could ask for anything better than this. On a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon on Saturday, October 30, 1982, in Nanty Glory, Pa., the battle featured a clash of two undefeated titans of the Appalachian Conference.  One was the preseason unanimous favorite to win the title, the other a veritable surprise that season, one that had built an 8-0 record entering that game.  This battle lived up to the pre-game hype, ending in a one-point decision that was not certain until the final play of the game.  I thought of this because the coach of the powerful Shade-Central City High School Panthers, George Pasierb, passed away earlier this week. He coached the Panthers for 20 years, but his best team was arguably that 1982 team that battled the Blacklick Valley Vikings on that Saturday afternoon before more than 3,000 ebullient fans.  And, the one-point loss was the to
Read more

Why did Tennessee-Chattanooga hire trainer Tim Bream despite his role in the alcohol-induced death of Tim Piazza at a Penn State frat?

Image
… was a live-in advisor at the fraternity On paper, Tim Bream has an impressive resume. Actually, very impressive — up to a point. That seems to be when Bream’s life appears to careen out of control. Bream, who resigned as Penn State trainer in Feb.,  was a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, specializing in athletic training. He then attended West Virginia as a grad assistant trainer, where he received a master’s degree in Physical Education with an emphasis on Sports Science. All of this information is from his bio on the Penn State athletic site. He then worked his way up the ladder impressively, working at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and finally at the University of Richmond, where he was the Director of Sports Medicine and Head Athletic Trainer. Then he received his big break, being name as Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Chicago Bears in 1993, and four years later, Head Athletic Trainer. He was with the Bears for 19 years when inexplicably, he
Read more

Why did Mike Tomlin start hiring black coaches after 15 years?

Image
Brian Flores … hiring Flores probably rankled Goodell To place this into context, understand that the only reason that the Steelers hired Mike Tomlin 15 years ago is because he was black.  Why? He had never even been a coordinator anywhere, never in the NFL. The only reason that he was interviewed was because of the “Rooney Rule.” That rule is one named after the late Dan Rooney who led the effort to force every NFL team to interview at least one black coach when it had head coaching openings.  The Steelers had focused their coaching search after Bill Cowher left on Ron Rivera, then a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. Their interview with Tomlin was a peremptory one, something to satisfy the smell test.  After all, why interview a guy who was just a defensive coach? Coordinators are the people who are hired for the big gig.  Tomlin, though, is a great talker, and he wooed Dan Rooney so much that he was hired for the position.  Which begs the question: Why after all o
Read more