Brady, Belichick Have Lost Their Touch
Monday, October 15, 2012
Belichick and Brady have lost their touch. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still both very good. However, they are no longer the elite at their respective positions, a fact that has become more vivid as the season wears on.
Sunday afternoon’s debacle in Seattle was just the latest example of why Bill Belichick is no longer the “defensive genius” he has long been considered to be. It was also the latest example of the fact that Tom Brady does not walk on water.
If you go all the way back to Super Bowl 42 following the Pats unbeaten 2007 campaign, this franchise has been plagued by a major problem which is their inability to close out games.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLook at both of their Super Bowl losses to the New York Giants. In both cases, the Pats couldn’t seal the deal by making enough plays on either side of the football.
Remember what happed to the Patriots back on November 16, 2009? Let me refresh your memory by uttering the phrase “4th & 2.” That painful loss to the Colts in Indianapolis was another example of what we are talking about.
And then there’s the three losses they have suffered this season. Arizona, Baltimore, Seattle…..take your pick. Those were all very winnable games for the Patriots but they couldn’t seal the deal in any of them.
So what’s the problem? Take your pick.
The offense, led by Brady, has not been able to make enough plays, get enough first downs or chew up enough time off of the clock to help the team win those games.
Likewise, the defense hasn’t been able to make the key stops or force the big turnovers to help preserve the wins.
And, while we’re at it, let’s not let the coaching staff off the hook. There have been enough questionable calls in these games to keep the phone lines full at both WEEI and The Sports Hub.
So what does this mean? Well, as Bill Belichick would say, “it is what it is.” And right now “it is” a very average football team at (3-3).
The funny thing is, New England is still the best team in the AFC East and will probably win the division again this year. But that’s not the point. The bigger picture is that this is a franchise that appears to be on a slow decline.
And should we be surprised if that is, indeed, the case?
Not really.
When you think about it. We were spoiled here in New England for the better part of last decade when the Patriots were the premier franchise in all of professional sports. Did we really think that it could last forever? Because it never does.
Bill Belichick may have been a defensive genius when he had Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks with the New York Giants when he shut down Jim Kelly and Buffalo’s K-gun offense in Super Bowl 25.
He may have been a defensive genius when he shut down Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and the “Greatest Show on Turf” in Super Bowl 36. But since players like Willie McGinest, Richard Seymoure, Ty Law, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison have left New England, Belichick has looked like anything but a defensive genius.
Not that he hasn’t had ample time to rebuild the Patriots defense. He has. But the more and more you watch this Patriots defense play, the more and more you start to believe that it isn’t so much about the X’s and O’s as it is about the Billy’s and Joe’s.
As for Brady, he is still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. However, Tom Terrific is no longer the same guy who you could count on to make the plays needed in the clutch.
Is it because his focus and fire for the sport haven’t been as great since he met Gisele like they were in his younger days? Maybe it’s the fact that he is no longer comfortable in the pocket since having his knee blow out by Bernard Pollard in 2008? Or maybe it’s simple the fact that he is now 35 years of age and his better days are behind him.
Whether it’s one of those things or a combination of all of them, this is where we are Pats fans. Like it or not, it is no longer a given that the Patriots can just show up on Sunday’s and expect to win.
As a life-long Patriots fan, am I happy to have Belichick and Brady as my coach and quarterback? Absolutely! But I am also resigned to the fact that it will likely never be as good as it was.
Look at the bright side. It’s not 1990. Victor Kiam doesn’t own the franchise. Rod Rust isn’t the coach and Tommy Hodson isn’t the quarterback.
You know what? Even that doesn’t take away the pain of their defeats this seaso
