The New England Patriots are struggling in a way rarely seen in Tom Brady’s NFL career. Now, Brady and the team must search for answers.
That search has been ongoing all season, but it probably will be kicked up a notch or two after New England’s embarrassing 41-14 on Monday night to the Kansas City Chiefs. With that loss, the Patriots now sit at 2-2 and find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being home underdogs this Sunday night against the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals.
Righting the ship is going to be difficult.
“I think you’ve got to have enough mental toughness to endure through all of the tough situations,” Brady said Wednesday morning on WEEI radio. “It tests your will, it tests your mental discipline and your work ethic. I think those are things that are going to be tested by us for the rest of the year. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to roll our helmets out there and expect to go out there and win games.”
The Patriots’ offense has been the biggest culprit so far. New England ranks 24th in scoring offense and only two teams — Buffalo and Tampa Bay — are averaging fewer passing yards per game than Brady’s offense.
“There’s no magic play. There’s no magic scheme,” Brady added. “It’s up to the players to play a lot better than we’re playing. This hasn’t been an isolated incident. I don’t think offensively we’ve played well all year. I don’t think we’ve played well for a long time. We’ve gotta figure out the reason why we’re not playing as well as we’re capable and try to improve them.”
Brady isn’t playing his best — he admitted that Wednesday morning — but he hasn’t received a lot of help. However, he’s not going to blame anyone around him for the lackluster offensive output.
“It’s not one position, it’s not one player, it’s all players, it’s all positions, it’s all coaches, it’s everyone,” he said on WEEI.
Brady also was asked about being sat down in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s blowout.
“I just do what I’m told. I’m not over-analyzing anything,” he said. “We were getting our butts kicked. It was a situation where we didn’t have a good game. That’s what (head coach Bill Belichick)Â wanted to do and that’s what we did.”
Photo via Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports Images
