On Halloween, it's only fitting that the Patriots are by far the scariest team in the NFL. With Brady back for 4 games now, the offense is now at the very top of it's game, and they showed it on Sunday, haunting Rex Ryan again and putting up 41 points in the win.
Brady was sharp (when isn't he) putting up yet another masterful performance, going 22-33 on pass attempts for 315 yards and 4 touchdowns. One of those TD's went to TE Rob Gronkowski, which was his 69th of his career, and a new Patriots franchise record. He's only played a total of 87 games. Although Brady still shredded the Bills defense by way of the pass, he also employed a new method of offense you wouldn't expect out of TB12. Scrambling. Brady scrambled out of the pocket a great number of times on Sunday, getting a positive gain almost every time. Better yet, Brady was second in rushing for the Patriots, having just one rush for 15 yards, gaining a first down on the play. From there on, the Pats dominated the rest of the game, making plays on both sides of the ball, and frustrating the Bills. The Pats are now 4-0 with Brady back, and their schedule only gets easier from here on out. But, with Brady playing the way he is right now, it doesn't matter who the league throws in front of them, Brady will shred them. Nice try, Roger. The Pats have a bye in week 9, but will host the Seahawks in week 10 and in what will be Brady's second home game of the season on Sunday Night Football.
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Tom Brady returned from his unruly 4-game suspension last week in Cleveland, a game in which Brady torched the Browns secondary and showed absolutely no rust, as the Patriots won 33-13. At age 39, Brady is still looking as good as ever, perhaps even better than some years in the past. Brady even said it himself, "I feel better at 39 than I did at 29", in a recent radio interview.
New England fans are obviously happy to have Brady back but, fans also take Brady's greatness for granted at times. He's been playing at such a high level for so long, that everyone almost expects him to perform at that high of a level week in and week out. Last week, Brady threw for 400+ yards and 3 TD's. A week in which Brady has 250 yards and 2 TD's, would be classified as 'bad' by some Brady critics, while if Carson Wentz had a game like that, everyone would be kissing the ground he walked on. The fact of the matter is, it's just not realistic to expect someone to perform at such a high level their entire career. That is of course, unless we're talking about Tom Brady. Oh wait, we are. Now, the Patriots will host the Bengals in week 6 in Brady's first game back in front of the 'Foxboro Faithful', a game where he'll be more fired up than ever before with the fans behind him. Let's face it, the Patriots will not lose another home game in 2016, it just won't happen. Brady puts the Patriots on a different level, and it also helps that Brady has a 114-20 record at home in his career. Insanity, I get it. But, all the more reason to think the Patriots will run the table at Gillette Stadium the rest of the way. The Patriots home schedule is as follows: Week 6 v.s Bengals Week 10 v.s Seahawks Week 13 v.s Rams Week 14 v.s Ravens Week 16 v.s Jets Out of those 5 games remaining at home, only one of those teams made it past their respective conference's championship game in the past 3 seasons. The Patriots also beat that team in Super Bowl XLIX. As for the road games, there's a lot of them left on the schedule. Brady's record on the road is 81-40 for his career, but the Patriots play some tough teams coming up. Here's the matchups: Week 7 @ Steelers Week 8 @ Bills Week 11 @ 49ers Week 12 @ Jets Week 15 @ Broncos Week 17 @ Dolphins 4 out of these 6 games will be tough tests for the Patriots, the Steelers, Bills, Broncos, and Dolphins. I'll explain each one individually: Steelers: This game will be an offensive shootout between the two best offenses in football. This game very well could come down to who gets the ball last, and there's nobody the Pats would rather have in a game-winning drive situation than TB12. If the Patriots execute their gameplan and take care of the ball, they should be able to take down the Steel Curtain. Bills: The only reason I say this will be a tougher game than most expect is simply for one reason. Rex Ryan hates the Patriots and will do anything he can to beat them. He did it already once this season but, the Patriots had a third string QB in the game. Not much of an accomplishment there, Rex. The Patriots will just need to weather the Bills' first half push, and then set the tone and take over in the second half. Broncos: We all saw the AFC Championship game and how the Broncos defensive line man-handled the Patriots' line and got to Tom Brady on just about every single play. If that happens again, expect the Broncos to be competitive in this game. But, if the Patriots' offensive line handles their assignments and they can contain Von Miller, the Patriots will win. Dolphins: If last years week 17 game between these two teams was any indication, Miami will dominate again. The Patriots were just not into the game and never could get their offense going. Also, starting off the game with seven straight running plays probably wasn't the best decision either. The bottom line is, the Patriots will finish the season with the best record in the AFC and home-field advantage, and there's nothing anybody can do to stop them, all because of Tom Brady. |