2014 was supposed to be one last hurrah. Tom Brady was supposed to throw touchdown after touchdown to a wide array of receivers and Darrell Revis was supposed to make the Patriots defense one that could carry a team to the Super Bowl.
2014 has been none of those things.
The team has been wrought with problems from the get-go. The fan base has been abuzz for four weeks now with talk of missed blocks, lop sided passing statistics and mediocre play calling. But all along, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and our fellow fans assured themselves of the true possibility that the Pats could turn the season around.
Though the Week One loss to the Dolphins hurt, though an Edelman dominated Week Two in Minnesota was worrisome and though a near loss to the Raiders in Week Three was one indicative of a team in chaos, there was hope that it could all flatten out by February.
Monday’s massive 27 point defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs took that hope and snuffed it out in the middle of one of the NFL’s most watched games.
"It was just a bad performance by everybody," Brady said, truly defeated in his demeanor following the 41-14 loss. "We need to make sure we never have this feeling again. We've got to figure out what we have to do better."
Brady went 14-23 with two interceptions. He threw just one touchdown pass and amassed a mere 159 yards. Such an incompetent numbers line only drops his season statistics and raises the volume of those calls that he is on his way out of football.
"I'm doing the best job I can do out there," Brady said. "I'll try to go out there and play better, play as well as I possibly can each week."
However, what definitely hurt the most for the longtime Patriots quarterback was what was not shown on the stat sheet. The 37 year old was pulled from the game in the 4th quarter due to his performance. That was the first time in Brady’s entire career that such a thing had happened. In his debut, rookie backup Jimmy Garrapolo went 6 for 7, gaining 70 yards and throwing his first career touchdown pass.
Brady was introspective to say the least following the score and was controversially named as the only player who did not high five Garrapolo. Brady defended by insisting the truthfulness of his support.
"I was happy for Jimmy. I was happy for our team. We kept fighting at the end. That's a good thing. The more good players we have, the better we will be as a team. So, I didn't pay attention to any of those things. I was obviously disappointed that the outcome of the game was what it was. It's been very frustrating all season the way that we have performed offensively. But we are trying to figure it out to become a better offense."
Brady insisted that he did not think too much off the huge moment in his career. That is not to say that the rest of the NFL did not do the very opposite.
Former teammate of Brady’s Rodney Harrison said in a high profile article with ESPN Tuesday that “Tom Brady looks scared to death when he drops back to pass.”
Harrison later went on to divert a lot of the blame that has been tossed upon the Pats offensive line back upon the man it is protecting.
“…at the end of the day, Tom needs to play better. The offensive line needs to protect him, but Tom -- we've said it week in and week out -- he's missing opportunities that are there; he's just floating the ball in the air."
There was an inherent demoralizing aspect of Monday’s loss to the Chiefs. It, like each and every Patriots game this season raised more questions than it answered. However, unlike the other three games played so far, this one put the future of one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks in question.
Tom Brady is on his way out. The dream of playing until he turns 50 will be realized and although he may have a few years left in him, 2013, not 2014 may have been his last hurrah.
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