Chiefs at Patriots: What Needs to be Seen from the Patriots to Silence the Doubters

Brady vs. Mahomes part 3 goes down in Foxboro, MA on Sunday December 8th.

This post was about to be a lot more simplistic, as the Patriots appeared to have a chance to get an easy win due to “equipmentgate” earlier today:

Chiefs’ gear for today’s game mistakenly was sent to New Jersey instead and is now on its way to Foxboro, sources tell ESPN.https://t.co/JftFYCuHaj

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 8, 2019

I am pretty confident that if the Chief’s equipment had not arrived to the game in time, some of the haters would have made a serious case that this is the Patriots’ “cheating” once again. I will admit I would have accepted a win by forefit for the Patriots in this tightly contested AFC, however the Pats will in fact have to play and earn a win in this game in order to take the lead back in their conference.

The Patriots are not playing their best offensive football right now. I admit that. I just hate when media people like to isolate one reason as to why they have had issues (like the quarterback.) The Patriots need to capitalize on the home field advantage, as they have won 21 straight games at home dating back to week 4 of 2017. They need to utilize the up-empo offense to keep a Chief’s defense that has a good pass rush and more overall speed than this Patriot offense. The patriots always have great plays scripted to start games, however as the game progresses they struggle to keep up once off-script. Some trickery might be needed early to put up a touchdown and have the high-powered Chiefs playing from behind.

Additionally, they need to spread the ball around to all skill positions. Brady is known for his ability to get many players involved, and with the confidence of the receivers needing a boost after last week’s matchup against the Texans. If they play a sixty minute competitive game against one of the league’s most dynamic offenses, the people this blog is dedicated tomight not have much to say throughout next week.

Washington Post Releases Some Perfectly Timed Propaganda

I’m sorry but after reading this new article about Tom Brady’s decline, I cannot help but get the impression that Neil Greenburg has not watched a whole lot of Patriots football in 2019. He starts off by making the bold claim that there is “little hope” that Brady can return to elite status ever. He then details his last game (recency bias) without giving any context to the current situation of Brady’s offense that I have harped on in this blog for very good reason. Yes, his first half stats were not good. Pundits used to say things like: “I can’t remember the last time Tom Brady had a bad game,” in order to illustrate how solid and consistent he has been on the field for the last two decades. All the stats he uses appear bad on first view, but Brady’s value is still evident as he keeps that offense afloat and is the team’s most important player, despite their great defense this season. There are so many storylines that go into Brady’s performance in that game besides his first half stat line. He lost his second string center and is now on his third of the season, rookie wide receivers Jakobi Meyers and N’Keal Harry both had obvious terrible miscommunications with their quarterback, one of which resulted in Brady’s interception. Brady’s second half was much more effective, where he converted on two important plays on first & 30 and first & 17 respectively. He also threw three touchdown passes. That is not menitoned in the article as expected. TB12 is also throwing to the worst group of tight ends in the NFL, statistically and talent-wise. I understand why writers want to predict the demise of the Patriots, but I am waiting until they realize it only fuels them and that they have been wrong every single time so far. They could use some extra motivation as the playoffs approach.

Pro Football Focus’s Latest Quarterback Ranking has Tom Brady at Seventh

Russell Wilson continues to rank as the highest-graded QB going into Week 14! pic.twitter.com/rPdKJNuyJ2

— PFF (@PFF) December 7, 2019

This is slightly more of an appreciation post to Pro Football Focus for taking mercy on Brady and apparently taking into account the fact that the offensive skill around him has been sub par this year. I was pleasantly surprised to see they had him ranked higher than the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. It definitely gives some validity to what I have been seeing from him on the field this season, especially recently. Brady has been holding onto the ball much longer than he normally does in the pocket; that is because outside of Julian Edelman and James White (sometimes), no one is getting open in coverage and to compound that none of the other skill players on offense has been able to capture the idea of the infamously complicated Patriot offensive scheme. I am not totally absolving Tom Brady from blame, but I must defend him at all costs because I feel he is responsible for 25% of the offensive slump his team is experiencing. This video from Undisputed has some great debate going on between Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe about the rating. Both of them make great points defending their different opinions. Bayless is pro Brady and Sharpe attempts to convince his co-host that Tom is responsible for his offense’s struggles.

Pro Football Focus is known for their intense film study and advanced analytics. They grade players on more than just statistics. So I trust they have taken every possible factor into consideration with their recent ranking. But it is up to Brady to continue to raise the level of his teammates, and hopefully raise his PFF rating back to top five territory where he belongs.

Max Kellerman’s Newest Take Proposes Tom Brady and Philip Rivers Switch Teams After the Season

Facial Expression by both of them pretty much

I think I see what Max is up to here. By proposing this trade, he is basically equating these two players as near equals at their current career stages. But I don’t know if he thought this theory through completely. Kellerman has been salty since he picked the Chargers to beat the Patriots in the Divisional playoff game last year and the Chargers got destroyed in the game. Going back even further, he is still trying to justify his now infamously wrong “cliff prediction” from Summer 2016. He still constantly claims that Brady’s skills have declined and that he was not wrong with his cliff prediction. He claims Bill Belichick’s coaching and defense has carried Brady for the better part of the last three seasons. However, if Brady is a wahsed up 42 year-old quarterback, why would he excel on a Charger team with considerably inferior coaching support? I have to imagine Rivers would not improve the Patriots either. He might not be the turnover machine he has become this year, but I think everyone (besides maybe the haters on this page) would agree a downgrade from Tom. Despite being five years younger, Rivers has shown what a true decline looks like. His offensive weapons are extremely superior to that of the Patriots, and Rivers has committed game-losing turnovers in multiple games this season. He leads the league in interceptions in the last two minutes of games and his fairly talented team has a 4-8 record because of it. He still has time to turn it around. But sorry Max, Brady and Rivers are not parallels when it comes to their situations. And according to your logic and previous takes, neither would really excel all that much more if they switched squads. This isn’t the first time Max has proposed this scenario. After all, I think Max would love to see Brady depart the Pats by any means necessary, so he’s speaking it into existence.

Throwback Thursday Part 2: Deflategate Overreaction Edition

This is another one of my favorites. I actually remember seeing multiple headlines about how the Patriots should be disqualified from the Super Bowl after it a foregone conclusion they were cheating I mean obviously obviously its’s obvious obviously. This piece from For The Win’s Chris Chase has some other Pulitzer Prize level lines of melodrama:

“The penalty should be simple: Ban ’em. “

“The New England Patriots cheated in the AFC championship. As such, the team should be disqualified from the Super Bowl.”

“The evidence is all there, assuming Chris Mortensen’s report is correct.”

The last one is my favorite because Chris Mortensen’s report was actually in fact incorrect. Very incorrect. But no one cares about that. The author of this piece that has aged just as well as the death of the dynasty one clearly has disdain for New England (shocking). He claims Tom Brady is going to get off “scot-free”, which is an outrageous prediction to begin with but was also proven to be shockingly inaccurate over time. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s inexplicable never ending crusade to prosecute one of the league’s biggest stars after his personal investigator ruled it was”more probable than not” Brady knew about the slightly under inflated footballs. Chase also predicts the incident would blow over and no one who is part of the Patriots organization would get repercussions. These comments come from a place of sarcasm as it is clear he would want repercussions, he is just alluding to the Patriot’s nature of fortuity.

Nonetheless, this “scandal” was a witchhunt. After failing to properly punish some other players for more severe allegations such as domestic violeence, Goodell tried to make up for it by crushing the Patriots when he had the chance. The Pittsburgh Steelers were accused of the same exact thing by another team two years later, and the NFL refused to even investigate. I personally do not care if the balls were deflated at this point or not. The Pats won the deflategate game 45-7, so I dont’t think the difference in that game was the 1 psi difference. Looking at the success they have had since, I would say the balls were never too much of an advantage to begin with either.

Real life photo of deflated Patriot footbals

ted-wells-report-deflategateDownload

Throwback Thursday: A Look Back at an Underrated Gem of Hilariously Patriot Inaccurate Foreshadowing

After the Patriots were defeated by the Chiefs in this now famous game over five years ago, one of the first things I saw was this Bleacher Report article. The title “The Patriots Dynasty is Finally Dead” struck impressionable 15 year old me. I did pose the question if it was really was the end for the GOATS. However, I thank this article for preparing me for this ludicrous prediction that would seem to occur after every game the Patriots lost from that point forward. I screenshot the article headline as soon as I saw it, hoping to look back on its absurdity once the Patriots were Super Bowl champions come February. Far fetched, I know. Oh wait, no it wasn’t far fetched. At least not if it comes true. I still have the picture to this day. It makes me happy to see the article still exists. Thank you, Ty Schalter. I have literally never read or heard of this guy outside of this one article, but he will live on forever in this Patirot fan’s heart.

Tom Brady plotting his next 5 years of dominance during the Arrowhead Massacre

This picture of Ty in all his glory looks like it was taken in the 1980s.

Ty’s article starts with a picture of Brady that encapsulates his and the team’s sorrow that night they admittedly did get massacred. I am not fully blaming and calling out Mr. Schalter like I do in most of these articles. I understand his position in this instance. He seems to really appreciate what the Patriots had accomplished up to that point. I am sure he does not love the fact that they he could not have been more wrong. The Patriots have created a new mini dynasty that has lasted for 5 years and counting, and it started literally the very next week in the “Onto Cincinnati game”. The weird over dramatization mixed with Star Wars references is so hilarious to me as well for some reason. Even though I guarantee it wasn’t too funny on September 29th.

“If Belichick is Palpatine, then Brady’s Darth Vader, the right-hand man who does all the dirty work. Just like Vader’s infamous mask and cape, the sight of Brady in big games used to strike fear into the heart of opposing defenses. “

Jason Whitlock goes on evil monologue about how the Patriots’ demise is FINALLY happening

I always wondered who gave Jason Whitlock his own “Whitlogue” segments where he can give a poetic uninterrupted evil soliloquy of the day. The only thing I can remember him ever being right about is that the Seahawks would destroy Peyton Manning’s Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, which was eerily accurate. Whitlock just assumes that Brady’s sideline emotions and communication on the field is just a ploy to bring back Antonio Brown. AB has to be one of the farthest things on the Pats’ minds at this point. I do appreciate however that the caption on the screen accurately depicted how Patriots haters (like Whitlock) have been predicting this for 5 years now, if not more. He goes on to state all the tropes: the record is a mirage, they’re the 5th best team in the AFC, this is definitely Brady’s last year in New England. Whitlock says the Patriots searching for outside solutions is the most telling factor that the time is up for the 42 year old quarterback. What? They haven’t looked for outside solutions enough in my opinion. I appreciate everyone else on Speak for Yourself’s panel wholeheartedly disagreeing with Whitlock’s scorching take, but I guess that goes along with the show’s name. I await the team to prove Jason wrong this coming Sunday.

An interesting rating system the show was using to discuss Brady’s GOAT status

Rob Parker creates new nickname for Tom Brady amidst the Patriots offensive “struggles”

Rob Parker waiting for Tom Brady to retire

Rob Parker has hated Tom Brady and the Patriots much longer than I have even been a fan of them. I can personally track his blind animosity back to about early 2012, in which he said after the Patriots came up short against the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, that there was no way the team would make it back to the championship under Brady. He has made 4 Super Bowls since Parker’s brilliant prediction and hoisted the Lombardi three times. Back to the real topic, Parker has created a couple alterations of Brady’s established nicknames to fit his scornful agenda. Ahead of the Patriots’ week 12 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, Parker changed Tom Terrific into “Tom Terrible”, because of Brady’s decline from a statistical standpoint (despite making winning plays, dealing with the offense’s outrageous shortage of talent, and injury issues). This level of jovial pride in the statistical change of a legend like Brady would never occur in any other instance, but the Patriots hate is real and more evident than ever. Parker has made a career out of hating on Brady and his team especially in recent years. After completing the greatest comeback in playoff history in Super Bowl LI, Parker called Brady the LOAT (luckiest of all-time) and presented a t-shirt on Colin Cowherd’s show. Merchandising is the only attempt to justify this outrageous slander.

Marist Graduate Brandon Tierney Draws Attention with his Way Too Early Brady Comments

I hate to rag on a Red Fox alum who has a job in the sports communication industry I would be ecstatic to even have a chance to have in the future, but I have to defend the empire at all costs. Only 4 weeks into 2019, Brandon Tierney announces from his “football heart” that there were only two elite quarterbacks in the NFL with “consistent production.”

The title itself incites clickbait.

After watching Tom Brady and the Patriots BEAT a tremendous Bills defense in Buffalo, Tierney draws a great well-thought out conclusion that he is a game manager and no longer elite. He would hang up on anyone who calls to defend the greatest player of all time because he did not throw a touchdown pass in a game where he no longer had Antonio Brown, his only established receiver was banged up, and his tight end is an undrafted nobody. I never understood where this anxiety to declare Tom Brady “done” so qucikly from the media came from. Tierney’s radio partner, former star NFL running back Tiki Barber firmly agrees that there’s no way Tom Brady can carry a team anymore. Why? If LeBron James has a few games in which he does not score 20 points, nobody is going to say he is no longer elite. Nobody. Except for maybe Skip Bayless, who is also a Brady defender. Unfortunately Bayless’s reputation makes people dismiss his comments. Tierney’s quarterbacks of choice for “elite” status are Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes. I agree. Two fantastic quarterbacks. However they have not done anything to prove their superiority over Brady despite different and perhaps more “flashy” styles of play. I love these young quarterbacks in the NFL who are changing football in a way, but their praise does not have to come at the cost of doubting the GOAT.

When the graphic they use to argue for Mahomes includes his playful nickname it is hard to argue bias.

Nick Wright is still very Wrong

Nick Wright may have improved his hair, but many still criticize him for his mindset and analysis when it comes to the NFL and NBA.

Nick Wright pre good hair

Nick Wright with good hair in the middle of a bad take

When it comes to NFL quarterbacks, Nick Wright fluctuates. He suffers from extreme recency bias, and has recently developed a newfound obsession with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. In the NBA, he has blindly idolized LeBron James, mainly by proclaiming that he is the greatest basketball player of all time, and that it is not even a topic that should be debated. He is starting to do the same thing in the NFL with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He goes on Colin Cowherds Radio show regularly to spit whatever take he feels for that day. His most recent two have been about how the Patriot’s record setting defense is not all-time great despite allowing single digit points per game in the first five weeks of the 2019 season, and also how Mahomes has surpassed Brady in greatness and should be the first choice as a quarterback for any team in the league. Wright has caught a lot of criticism for his inaccurate takes in his young career, and with these takes that I feel are very wrong, I could not absolve him.