Brady: It’s a new season
Pats-Bolts only about which team performs
FOXBORO — When the Patriots and Chargers meet tomorrow afternoon, Tom Brady and Philip Rivers will set a record as the oldest quarterbacks to face each other in the playoffs.
Their combined age: 78 years, 198 days.
Unaware of this nugget when it was mentioned at his press conference yesterday, Brady broke character for a second and exclaimed, “Nice! Nice and old.”
“That’s a pretty good one right there,” Brady said. “That’s pretty cool. It’s just fun to be around. … I’m out there today practicing and it’s … 10 degrees, 15 degrees out, and I’m sitting here just playing with my friends, throwing the football around. I think it’s just a great blessing to be able to do it and do it here for this team, which I’ve loved to do. Philip’s been on the same team (too). It means a lot.”
Brady was complimentary of Rivers throughout the news conference. There isn’t much recent history between the two, as they’ve faced off only twice since 2012, but Brady expressed admiration for Rivers’ sustained excellence and fiery nature.
“He’s an emotional leader, and he always gets those guys going,” Brady said. “They always have a good offense. It’s a good team. … They’ve been behind a few times this year too, and they keep fighting and they’re back in it. Down 14 to KC with four minutes left. They were down a bunch to the Steelers, and you just can’t count them out.”
Brady made sure to get across one other message: Whatever happened in the regular season no longer matters.
For Rivers and the Chargers, the 2018 season was fantastic, an experience worth leaning on in the playoffs. They beat tough teams on the road, including Pittsburgh, Seattle and Kansas City. They took care of business in the games they were supposed to win, posting an 8-1 record against non-playoff teams.
For Brady and the Patriots (11-5), the final record wasn’t far off from the Chargers (12-4), but the season was uncharacteristic in many ways. The Pats offense was uneven all season, partially because the personnel kept changing. Julian Edelman was suspended. Sony Michel got injured, twice. Josh Gordon emerged and then was suspended indefinitely. It’s been chaotic.
All five of the Patriots’ regular-season losses came against non-playoff teams. To put that in perspective, the Pats lost five games to non-playoff teams in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons combined. The road here was bumpy, at least by their standards. And Brady doesn’t really care.
“It all comes down to this,” Brady said. “It’s a production-based league, and regardless of what’s happened to this point, it’s about winning this game. If you don’t play great, really in all three phases … any time you play good teams, you can’t expect one phase of your team to carry you.”
Defensively, the Patriots have been great at Gillette Stadium. The past four visitors — the Jets, Bills, Vikings, and Packers — averaged 10.5 points. Overall, six of the Patriots’ past seven opponents have been held to 17 points or fewer. The offense hasn’t been quite as steady. Brady knows that needs to change in the postseason. The Pats aren’t the 2000 Ravens or 2015 Broncos. The defense isn’t going to single-handedly propel them to another Super Bowl.
Brady noted the need for a balanced offense tomorrow, especially against the passrushing tandem of Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa. The Pats committed to a runheavy approach in the later months of the season, and they’ll need to remain productive in that area against the Chargers.
“I don’t think you can just let them tee off on you all day,” Brady said. “I think part of being a great offense is making them defend everything.”
The 2018 Patriots, despite their inconsistencies, finished fourth in the league in scoring. They ranked eighth as a passing offense and fifth in rushing. Objectively, they were very good, but they must be better in January.
“Once the ball’s kicked off, it’s one game,” Brady said. “Regardless of anything that’s happened this year, it is one game. From the kickoff on is what’s going to determine who moves on. It doesn’t matter if you’re 16-0 or 10-6. We both have the same chances, and it’s whoever plays the best game.”