The Big Lead

Three Reasons Not to Panic About Tom Brady and the Patriots

By Jason McIntyre

None
facebooktwitter

Getting curb stomped 21-0 in the 4th quarter, at home.

Giving up 537 yards of offense and a staggering 8.3 yards per play to checkdown Alex Smith and the Chiefs.

It’s time to panic in New England, obviously.

Wrong.

Here’s why:

  1. Bill Belichick is a defensive guru., cutting his teeth in the 1980s as the defensive coordinator for Bill Parcells’ great Giants teams. When Belichick sees tape of the defensive performance, massive adjustments will be made. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Patriots made a trade for pass rusher. They’ve swung and missed with Mingo and Ealy recently. Remember when the mighty Warriors opened the season giving up 129 points in a loss to the Spurs? I said it was the best thing that could have happened to them. Same applies here to the Patriots.

2. Tom Brady is dead. Done. Over-the-hill. You’ll read a lot of nonsense about Brady today. Thursday wasn’t his finest effort. Yes, 11 of his passes were off target. That being said, it was his 1st game without safety blanket Julian Edelman. He was facing an elite cornerback in Marcus Peters who erased one side of the field. And once Danny Amendola suffered a concussion early in the 4th quarter, the Patriots couldn’t move the ball. I’m most curious what they’ll do at slot next week if Amendola isn’t healthy. Still, let’s not forget: They put up 27 points through three quarters, and Brady can still throw a beautiful deep ball:

3. No more 19-0 talk! That undefeated chatter all offseason was hilarious. We all fell for it. That incredible Super Bowl comeback masked the stench of a one-sided 28-3 blowout. The Patriots were gassed up for the last six months because of that incredible rally, and then adding Brandin Cooks sealed it – the Patriots might be the best offense of all-time! This season opener reminds me of 2003. In 2001, the Patriots won the Super Bowl. In 2002 they dipped to 9-7. In the 2003 season opener they got drilled by Buffalo, 31-0. If you looked, you could probably find stories questioning Brady and Belichick. They finished the season 14-2 with a Super Bowl ring.