Brady’s bad week doesn’t bode well for New Engalnd’s playoff chances

Foxborough, Mass. — He threw behind his receivers. He chucked it over their heads, wide of their hands, and sometimes, nowhere even close.

Seven throws into his day, Tom Brady found a Dolphins defensive back instead of one of his own targets, as former Patriot cornerback Eric Rowe made him pay for his erratic tosses with a pick-six.

This wasn't the masterful Brady of the previous week, the confident leader of the offense, who was perfect with his reads, and even better with his throws.

This wasn't awesome Tom, the greatest quarterback of all-time. This was bad Tom, the one who has made quite a few unwanted visits this season.

Did former Patriots defensive coach Brian Flores somehow get in his head, calling the plays on the opposing sideline with a makeshift secondary? Or was there something physically wrong with the Patriots quarterback?

Either answer doesn't bode particularly well for Brady, or the Patriots offense moving forward into the postseason.

Losing 27-24 to Miami on Sunday took away the first-round bye they would have enjoyed with a victory. It eliminated the chance for resting the injured, meaning Brady, Julian Edelman, Marcus Cannon and whoever else turns up on the injury report this week in preparation for Saturday's wild-card game against the Tennessee Titans.

Brady has been on and off the report with an elbow problem. He claimed after the loss he had "no problems" and felt good physically. He chalked it up to a bad day at the office.

"I could always do things better," he said. "I don't think there's any one particular thing other than obviously, I hate turning the ball over, but I just don't think we did a good enough job. I certainly didn't do a good enough job. We've got to do better next week."

Even having an off day, it was still curious to see Patriots head coach Bill Belichick sit on all three of his timeouts before the half, after the defense made a stop, with Brady and the offense taking over on the 25 with 57 seconds still to play, and the score tied at 10-all. Belichick went conservative, and let the clock run out, after Sony Michel was dropped for a twoyard loss on the first play from scrimmage.

Was that a reflection of how Belichick felt about Brady and the offense, or more about the 42-year old's health and how he looked throwing the football?

During his postgame press conference, Belichick claimed he would have used the timeouts if the Michel play had been more productive. Asked about Brady's health, and if it

impacted his play calling, Belichick claimed that wasn't the case.

"He practiced all week. I mean, you'd have to ask him that," Belichick said when asked specifically if his quarterback was dealing with a physical problem. "It didn't affect the play calling though, no."

Was Brady surprised not to be given a chance to move the ball for perhaps a field goal before the half? The Patriots were set to get the ball at the start of the third quarter, so it would have been effective if they could have pulled off two scores.

"We weren't executing great," said Brady, "so I can understand the decision. But, it was a lot of things (Sunday)."

A lot of things that need to be fixed, because the outlook right now is pretty grim where the Patriots are concerned.

As it turned out, they went threeand-out to start the third quarter, so they didn't do any damage on either side of the half. Brady did throw touchdown passes in the third (Elandon Roberts) and fourth (James White) quarters, as the Patriots eventually took a lead with 3:53 to play, but the defense failed to hold the Dolphins.

"It was a great chance for us to not play next week ... we didn't take advantage of it," said Brady. "We just didn't play good enough and we all wish we would have done a better job. Certainly, I do."

Brady completed just 16-of-29 passes for 221 yards. He threw the two touchdown passes with one interception. He generally had time to throw, being sacked just once.

Unlike the previous week, where the Patriots were able to sustain drives and convert on third down, that didn't happen this week. They were just 3 for 9 (33%) on third down conversions. Michel (18 rushes, 74 yards) and Rex Burkhead (6 carries, 48 yards) provided a decent running attack, and linebacker Roberts added to his repertoire with a 38-yard touchdown catch, pulling in a short pass, breaking a tackle and running the rest of the way.

Ultimately, it was Brady and the passing game that didn't cut it. He hit eight different receivers, but four of them caught just one pass. They had four leading receivers (Mohamed Sanu, James White, N'Keal Harry, Julian Edelman) with just three catches.

Brady did a lot of running and jumping up and down a lot on the sideline line, and when he warmed his arm up to get back in, he would shake out his elbow. He didn't have an ice wrap on during his press conference, but Brady hadn't yet gone to the trainers room before he met the media.

Again, a week off would have been nice, but it is what it is.

"I think we've got to think about trying to win one game and not think about many things other than that," said Brady. "So, we didn't play the way we were capable. We got beat, and now we've got to play next week and we've got to play a lot better next week."

It has to start with No. 12. If he plays like bad Tom, there's no chance. Even against the Titans.