It’s a frustrating start to the season for the New England Patriots and especially Tom Brady, even if they have started 2-0. He’s down to only one wide receiver he trusts, Julian Edelman, while probably letting his anger and disappointment with the rest of the guys he’s throwing to a bit too much.
Brady has started out the season completing only 52.7% of his passes for a total of 473 yards, 3 touchdowns, an interception and a fumble with a passer rating of 74.1. The Patriots did win their games against the Bills and the Jets, but they needed a lot of defense and a lot of mistakes from their rival quarterbacks in order to get the job done.
Brady? He had Danny Amendola (10 receptions, 104 yards), Shane Vereen (7 receptions, 58 yards) and Julian Edelman to throw to in the first game. By the time the Jets came along, Edelman was the only one healthy, and Brady probably relied too much on him.
Brady completed only 19 of his 39 passes against the Jets for 185 yards. The worst part was almost everything going to Edelman, catching 13 passes for 78 yards. Brady was only 6-of-21 when trying to reach other receivers, who also dropped the ball four times. He wasn’t happy, and showed all too well. Even he realized that maybe a bit too much.
I think I have to do a better job with my body language. I definitely can improve that. I wouldn’t say it’s a real strong point of mine right now. We’ll just try to keep doing better. That’s what we’ve got to do.
We have to evaluate and try to get it right. It just doesn’t magically come together. You have to work hard at it and you have to concentrate. All of us have to do a better job at that. The passing game is all about anticipation. They have to anticipate what I’m going to do and I have to anticipate what they’re going to do. We can do a better job of that.
The Patriots will look better once Gronkowski returns, while Vereen and Amendola might be a bit longer to find their way back on the field. Ridley will do better against more vulnerable run defenses, and yet it’s all on Brady and Belichick to produce with this receiving crew.
The Jets and the Bills are probably the two easiest games the Pats will see all year. With Brady looking this bad when throwing to “unknowns” and not being able to handle himself in a manner that doesn’t tell to everyone he doesn’t really believe in his teammates, cruising through the AFC East might not be such an easy task as it is in most years, or at least until he has his receiving crew back from the treatment table.