In a game that carried the kind of anxious anticipation that for some a first day of school does, the Patriots let their fans down, failing to execute in the second half of a 20-33 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Amassing less yards of total offence in the second half than in any other game since 2003, Tom Brady was the name atop that list of poorly preforming Patriots.
The New England quarterback lacked accuracy from the start of the game but road short screen passes to his wide-outs to a marginally acceptable first half performance. However as the third quarter commenced and the Dolphins began to pull themselves they began to hit or at least pressure Tom Brady on a regular basis. As a result, frantic throw away plays, scrambling incompletions and blatantly overthrown middle distance passes became commonplace whenever the Patriots had the ball. Whether or not these major miscues were as a result of bad communication in the huddle, bad pocket protection by the offensive line or a simple loss of composure by Brady, these problems came to a head in the final 5 minutes of the game when multiple plays that could have drawn the Patriots back into contention for the win were simply screwed up. When the dust settled, Brady had completed just 29 out of 56 passes, thrown just one touchdown pass and fumbled the football twice.
Needless to say this man who holds himself to such a high standard of game play was not pleased. After claiming to have been "pretty pissed this morning," Brady went on to address the fact that aside from a 44 yard pitch and catch in the first half, big yardage plays were absent from Sundays contest.
"It’s on us players to do a better job. When we have opportunities to hit open passes, we have to hit them. That’s what it comes down to. You can’t draw up a magic play. We are trying to do everything we can to make the plays that we need to make. And the execution of it out there on the field -- we need to do a better job of it."
It is none too hard to see the stinting self-criticism with which Tom Brady described his own play Sunday but it is also none too hard to see that the South Beach collapse was not all his fault. The offensive line which only a few weeks earlier had lost its biggest rock -- Logan Mankins -- played outright terribly; both of the Brady fumbles as well as the sac came as a result of huge holes left in the line. Furthermore, the special team line that allowed for a huge blocked punt to start the game did so in another uncharacteristic lapse in brute coverage.
But Brady insists that no one neither does nor should feel sorry for this team. Why? Because they are one that remains incomprehensibly capable of winning a Super Bowl this year. These predictions are not fantastical, I insist that much. This team that save for the loss of Mankins is fully healthy and stocked for victory just did not bring all their skills together in Week One.
Danny Ammendola made just 3 catches while Rob Gronkowski failed to catch 7 of his 11 targets.
But in the end all is well because after all it is a 16 game season and frankly, we all still know Ryan Tannihill and Tom Brady are as close in skill set at varsity and freshmen teems. Week One was a spat, stinging, yes, but needed as well. Mind you furthermore that the last time that the Patriots lost their first game of the season was also the last year that they won their final one.
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