In the big moment, last yard too much
FOXBORO — Tom Brady seamlessly led the Patriots on a 74-yard drive in the final minutes of regulation. The 75th yard proved impossible to navigate.
The Patriots had four cracks inside the 2-yard line with 43 seconds left and failed to cash in. Brady couldn’t get into the end zone on a pair of quarterback sneaks, his fourth-down pass to Rob Gronkowski sailed wide, and the Patriots fell to the Seahawks, 31-24, last night at Gillette Stadium.
“Our execution was not great,” Brady said. “They put a lot of pressure on you defensively, they make you earn every yard. They’ve been in a lot of close games, and it came down to 1 yard, and we didn’t get it.”
Brady had been nearly perfect since returning from a four-game suspension at the start of the season: 12 touchdown passes, zero interceptions and a passer rating of 133.9.
The future Hall of Famer came nowhere close to matching those numbers against an aggressive Seattle defense. Brady managed to complete 23-of-32 passes for 316 yards but didn’t throw a touchdown pass for just the third time in 42 games and was picked off for the first time this year.
The interception came on a play during which Brady was trying to make something out of nothing. He did a nice job of escaping intense pressure in the pocket but threw an inadvisable pass intended for rookie Malcolm Mitchell that DeShawn Shead easily picked off at his own 24.
“I just didn’t get a great throw on it,” Brady said. “I was running back to my left, and we’ve made some big plays on scrambles this year. I just didn’t make a good throw.”
Despite the interception and a costly Julian Edelman fumble in the fourth quarter, the Patriots were in a position to tie the score at the end thanks to a 26-yard completion from Brady to Gronkowski to put the ball at the 2.
Brady got 1 yard on a sneak, but LeGarrette Blount was stuffed for no gain on a leap, leaving the Patriots looking at a third down. The sneak has normally been a sure thing for Brady, but this one was a disaster; he fumbled the ball, recovering at the 2 with 14 seconds left.
“The fumble was my fault,” Brady said. “I was going left and (center David Andrews) thought I was going straight. It was my mistake.”
After Seattle was called for 12 men on the field, putting the Pats back on the 1-yard line, Brady opted to try and find Gronkowski in the left corner. He got tangled up with Kam Chancellor, the ball clanging off his hands as he — and the Patriots — fell.
“I didn’t see the play,” Brady said. “There is always a lot of contact with that team, and sometimes you get the call, and sometimes you don’t. It looks like it came down to one play, but there are a lot of plays we could have done a better job on.”