Brady keeps goals in sight
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been open, even amid the team’s run to a 10-1 record, about his frustrations with New England’s offense.
After Sunday’s 13-9 victory against the Cowboys, he again expressed his displeasure over the lack of production. The Patriots have averaged 16.7 points over their last three games.
“I think my job, it’s very important to me,” Brady said Monday morning in his weekly appearance on WEEI Sports Radio in Boston. “I want us to do as best we possibly can each week, like I always have. Everybody puts a lot into it and you want to see a great performance. When it’s less than that, I don’t know what I should feel other than what is authentic to me and what is authentic to my own personal feelings and beliefs about how we should be performing and what we need to do in order to do better.
“I have 20 years of experience, so I feel like I have some knowledge. I don’t have all the answers, but I have been around long enough to know what it looks like. I think our
guys are trying. We have good attitudes and we work hard. We have a very good team. I think our team will improve as we on offense improve. I think we can do that by – again, it comes down to trust and dependability and consistency. That is what we’re trying to do. Those things just don’t magically come together.”
Brady recently said New England’s strength was in its defense and special teams. While the Patriots rank first in scoring defense, allowing 10.6 points per game, the team’s offense could prove problematic at some point. Brady has completed 62.2% of his passes for 2,942 yards and 15 TDs with five interceptions for a passer rating of 88.5. That would be his lowest mark since the 2013 season, when he posted a mark of 87.3.
Part of New England’s woes stem from the departure of All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski, who retired this offseason and eventually became an analyst for Fox Sports. Gronkowski has been vocal about his time in New England and has said the constant pursuit of perfection within the franchise can be a grind.
“I think everyone deals with things differently and I think that was part of having a guy like Gronk in the locker room that was so great was he approached it like he does,” Brady said on WEEI. “He always looks at the bright spots in everything. When you have great attitudes like that, it is good to have. He was a great player for us for a long time.”
The Patriots hold the AFC’s No. 1 seed, though they’ll have to fend off the Ravens (8-2), who toppled New England 37-20 in Week 9 and has surged with an improving defense. The Patriots face a couple of tough challenges, with a trip to Houston to face the Texans on Sunday followed by a visit from the Chiefs.
“I know there’s power rankings and all that BS, but we’ve got to just keep making improvements and put ourselves in a good position,” Brady said. “Hopefully we can go out and get to 11-1, but it is going to be a big challenge. We’re going to have to play a great complementary game. Our defense is doing a great job. Offensively, hopefully we can make some improvements this week and go put together our best game of the year.”