Even someone like Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest football player of all time, will occasionally make a physical mistake.
Mental mistakes from the New England Patriots quarterback, however, are far less frequent and much more surprising.
Nothing will rival the final play of the Patriots’ shocking loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday in terms of sheer surprise, but one uncharacteristic gaffe from Brady before halftime certainly was eye-popping.
Brady admitted after Sunday’s game that he forgot how many timeouts the Patriots had when he took a sack with seven seconds left in the second quarter. The brain fart cost the Patriots at least three points, a play that obviously loomed pretty large once Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake crossed the goal line for a 69-yard game-winning touchdown as the game ended.
Brady was hard on himself again Monday morning, recounting the play in an interview with WEEI’s “Mut and Callahan.”
“It was just a bad play,” Brady admitted. “We called a timeout on first down … we ran a couple of plays, I just had a few other things running through my mind and took it for granted. I don’t care how long you play, you have to stay aware in those situations. You can’t give away points like that, and it was just a very bad play by me.”
Brady was asked whether there was a conversation with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels about the timeout situation. Brady dodged the question, insisting it was his fault.
“We conversate about a lot of things, but that should be the foremost thing I’m thinking, and unfortunately it wasn’t,” he said. “There’s no excuse. It’s the reality is just can’t let those things happen. It’s definitely my fault.”
Brady, however, didn’t sound too concerned about it becoming some sort of trend and was ready to put it behind him.
“That was just, that rarely happens,” Brady told WEEI. “It’s an anomaly, and I’m not going to overevaluate it. It’s just a bad play.”
