Tom starts to look human, but Pats keep winning
For the first time in years, the Patriots offense looks completely vulnerable.
In general, New England has struggled to score this season. It’s fresh off of a game in which it managed just 17 points against the Eagles, scoring one touchdown via a Julian Edelman pass to Philip Dorsett. The Patriots are 17th in points per drive (1.99) despite having the best average starting field position in the league (own 33.5 yard line). Like most struggling offenses, the issues start with the quarterback.
Tom Brady has put together a pretty mediocre season this year. He ranks 20th in adjusted yards per attempt (7.0), 14th in ESPN’s quarterback rating (56.1), and 26th in touchdown percentage (3.5%). Considering the fact that Brady is 42, him having a season like this shouldn’t be too surprising, but it’s always jarring to see all-time great players start to lose their ability.
Against the Eagles, Brady completed 26 of his 47 passes for 216 yards. That’s 4.6 yards per attempt, which is on par with what Bengals’ rookie Ryan Finley has produced this season. His inability to move and make plays against the Eagles’ blitz-happy defense was on full display and it resulted in a ton of his passes hitting the dirt and falling incomplete.
Not all of the Patriots’ struggles fall on Brady. Their offensive line has lost two starters in David Andrews and Isaiah Wynn to injured reserve, but Wynn should be able to return for the final stretch. They’ve had a revolving door at receiver as well — at one point Josh Gordon and Antonio Brown were on this roster!
The amount of in-season transition has clearly been difficult to overcome, but there are ways Brady can elevate his play independent of the rest of the roster. His arm strength has been shaky on deeper throws. Against the Eagles, Edelman dropped a deep pass, but he would have had an easier time catching the pass if the ball wasn’t underthrown.
Brady is making life more difficult for his running backs on shorter passes, too. Swing passes are coming out too far in front of the running backs, and occasionally he’ll take too long to get a screen pass out of his hands, disrupting the timing of his own play. These plays have been the crux of the Pats offense for years, and a slip in the fundamentals is all it takes to make Brady look human for the first time in years.
Luckily for the Patriots, the offense’s struggles haven’t gotten in the way of them winning. Their defense has been so dominant this season, outside of one game against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, that the offense hasn’t needed to do all that much. Excluding the 37 points they gave up to Baltimore, the most points the Patriots have allowed in a game this season is 14 to both the Giants and the Jets — and the Jets didn’t score an offensive touchdown when they put up 14 points on the Patriots in Week 3.
New England likely won’t need any heroics from Brady to win the AFC East or even clinch a first-round bye. At 9-1, they still control their own destiny to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They will need an uptick in offensive production once they get to the playoffs and it’s fair to wonder if 42 year old Brady can still produce like he used to.