Motivation name of the game
Brady sees no trouble getting up for Chiefs
FOXBORO — The Patriots offense was so good Sunday, so dominant, so fun to watch in its dismantling of the Chargers defense, it’s made believers out of many doubters.
Just don’t mention that to Tom Brady, who appears to be deriving a bit of pleasure, aka motivation, from the naysayers.
But during his press briefing yesterday Brady wouldn’t bite on that narrative, or the notion of getting a little push from being an underdog for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game with the Chiefs, even though the twinkle in his eyes suggested otherwise.
“If you’re not motivated this week you’ve got a major problem,” Brady said. “This is the week where you shouldn’t have to put anything extra in. This is what it’s all about,”
What the Patriots quarterback did acknowledge, however, was that along with the boost the Chargers performance provided, there was a difficult challenge ahead for the offense.
It’s called rinse, repeat. That’s the offensive mission for the AFC Championship Game in a nutshell. Be that impressive again.
“Everyone’s got to be counted on. Similar to last week, it’s about distributing the ball to everybody,” Brady said. “That’s why we were effective last week. Hopefully that’s why we’re effective this week.”
Against the Chargers, Brady completed 34-of-44 passes for 343 yards and a touchdown in the 41-28 win. There also was production in the running game, with Sony Michel gaining 129 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
While the offense has put up those kind of numbers before, what we saw Sunday against the Bolts has been the exception, not the rule. There really haven’t been many great offensive outings like that for this Patriots team, much less doing it back-to-back.
There were the Dolphins and Chiefs games at home, which were included in a stretch of games Weeks 4 through 6. But it’s been sporadic. The offense looked great the first half Week 14 in Miami, not so good the second half in that last-second loss.
In the past, a consistently good offense was more the staple. But we haven’t seen Brady look so efficient, so accurate or as comfortable standing in the pocket. We’ve seen it in spurts. It just hasn’t gotten to the point of being a habit.
It’s doubtful Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton is going to throw out Gus Bradley’s Cover-3 defense, play a zone and watch Brady stand back and annihilate him. That would be too easy and a sure-fire ticket to Atlanta for the Patriots. Sutton can’t be that stupid. And yet, it’s a defense that can be scored on. The Steelers hit them up for 37 points, the Rams 54, the Seahawks 38, the Chargers 29, and of course, the Pats 43 during their Week 6 encounter at Gillette.
“This is a defense that gets up in your face. They try and challenge you. They don’t make yards easy,” Brady said. “We’re going to have to go dig ’em out. We’re going to have to fight for every yard, (bring) toughness, effort. All those things play into it. Obviously, scheme and execution but I think sometimes intangible things are very important about finishing blocks and out-efforting the guy that’s over the top of you or winning your one-on-one matchup running your pass route.”
The Chiefs defense was second-worst against the pass, allowing 273.4 yards per game, and 27th against the run (132.1). They were a better defense at home, than on the road.
“They play a lot of different (coverages). I don’t know what they’re going to play against us,” said Pats receiver Phillip Dorsett. “You see teams that play one thing, then come out and play another . . . we’ll adjust if it happens. We’re just focusing on our game plan and what we have to do. I think that’s the only thing that’s important right now.”
The Chiefs typically play man coverage with some zone sprinkled in. They’re not strictly a zone team like the Chargers or Dolphins. So they aren’t likely to be giving free releases at the line to Julian Edelman or Rob Gronkowski.
Still, Brady has to bring it. He needs to bring everything he had against the Chargers to beat Patrick Mahomes. The offense needs to click just like last week. He knows what he’s up against, what he has to match.
“They’ve got a great offense,” Brady said of the Chiefs. “We’re going to need to score a lot of points.”
As for being the underdog for the first time in forever, Brady’s a step away from competing for his sixth championship. Call him whatever you want. The game is motivation enough.