FOXBORO, Mass. —Â Tom Brady doesn’t sound like a quarterback ready to take a backseat this weekend.
The New England Patriots have clinched the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, so it would be natural to get Brady and the team’s starters some rest.
The Patriots’ poor offensive showing Sunday against the New York Jets could throw a wrench in those plans, however. The Patriots only gained 231 yards in their 17-16 win over the 3-12 Jets, and Brady would like to end his season with a little more offensive momentum.
“I think — we still have one really important game left for us,” Brady said Tuesday. “We’re gonna go out there and try to play really hard against a team that’s a really good team. They’ve played a lot of good football this year. I think we’d like to end on a high note, try to go out there and play a really good game for 60 minutes. That would be great for our offense to be able to do.”
The Patriots’ offense sputtered in the first half of their Week 15 win over the Dolphins, as well, scoring just 14 points. They came on in the third quarter, scoring 24 points, but consistency has been an issue for the Patriots’ offense since losing to the Green Bay Packers in Week 13.
“We can’t look past this week,” Brady said. “We have to improve our execution this week. It starts with practice today, see if we can do a better job with our communication, overall understanding of one another and what we’re trying to accomplish on every play. When you don’t do it consistently, it’s hard to score points.
“The more we can be on the same page, the more we can understand what the anticipation of each other, and what we’re all trying to do, the better we’re going to be and the more we’re going to score points. It’s going to be good for us try to go out there and try to score a lot of points this weekend. That’s really the goal, to try to score every time we touch the ball.”
The Patriots might elect to rest their starters after showing some offensive firepower against the Bills, who rank third in pass defense and 13th in run defense. The Bills will give the Patriots a challenge before New England has to face even better foes in the postseason.
“It’s important. They’re all important. They all take on different meanings. This is a big game for us,” Brady said. “It gives us the opportunity to try to improve, certainly on last week’s performance and with the week off. We’re going to have a little time to rest up, so just want to go out and play well, see if we can string together as many good plays as possible.
“This defense challenges you. They’ve got a good front. They’re one of the best defenses in the league, one of the best defenses we’ve faced all year. They’re tops in almost every category. We’ve played a lot of great defenses this year, this one doesn’t really take a backseat to anybody. We’ll have to — on a Christmas week too. We’ll have to deal with a different schedule like we are today and have enough mental toughness to go out there and be at our best.”
The Patriots have pushed up their schedule this week, practicing Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday with Thursday off because of Christmas.
Thumbnail photo via Stephan Savoia/Associated Press
