If you want to know why Tom Brady is bad now it’s not because he’s aged/declined rapidly. Yes, he is on the wrong side of 36. Yes, the window for Brady and Bill Belichick is closing, but let’s not make a full catastrophe out of it. I know, he just had his worst all around game in about 8 years, and by some measures his worst game ever.
Facing your new AFC Championship favorite Cincinnati Bengals next week isn’t just what the doctor ordered either. However, what’s wrong with Tom Brady is quite simple: lack of protection.
Brady and the Pats will host Cincinnati on NBC Sunday Night Football this week. Here’s NBC Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy on Patriots’ and Brady’s struggles:
“He looks human because he’s worried about that protection. They’ve got good enough receivers, and Tom Brady can still throw the ball. But when you’re not confident that you can set your feet, you look like every other quarterback.”
He’s right. Why the offensive line has declined this much is not something we have the answer for. The Logan Mankins trade should not have made this much of a difference. But it has, and the situation is not easily fixable. I guess Nate Solder is just not the franchise tackle we thought he would be. The Patriots are 24th in the NFL at just 20 points per game.
They’re averaging under 300 yards a game (29th in the NFL), and they’ve been consistently one of the top 5 offenses in the league the past five years. This is a far cry from the Tom Brady and Randy Moss led offense of 2008.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2