FOXBORO, Mass. — Excuse the hyperbole, but Tom Brady’s second-half comeback Saturday might have been his best yet.
Brady, at 37 years old in frigid conditions without any semblance of a running game, somehow brought his team back from two 14-point deficits. Naturally, the Patriots are the first team in postseason history to accomplish that unique feat.
To be fair, however, the Patriots wouldn’t have been forced to mount two comebacks without an out-of-character Brady screwup to end the first half. Brady, coming off a game-tying drive, forced a pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski with just over a minute left in the half. The pass was easily picked off by Ravens linebacker Daryl Smith, and the Patriots went into the half trailing 21-14 rather than with a lead because of the gaffe.
“Yeah, it was just a terrible play by me,” Brady said. “We finally tied it up at 14. We had a chance to actually go ahead for the first time in the two-minute drive there, and I just made a terrible decision.”
Brady isn’t expected to make those kind of errors, but he also hasn’t been his normally stellar self in recent playoff games. His one-touchdown, two-interception performance in the Patriots’ 2012 AFC championship loss to the Ravens immediately comes to mind, and there were rumblings that Brady didn’t “have it” in the playoffs anymore leading up to this week’s game.
Brady proved those doubters wrong.
The Patriots stalled on their opening drive of the second half, allowing the Ravens to mount their second two-score lead, but after that, it was all Brady — literally. The Patriots ran the ball five times in the second half: two Brady sneaks and three Brady kneel downs.
The Ravens knew the Patriots were passing in the second half. The Patriots had no other choice and even proved to the Ravens that they were going to throw by pulling an offensive lineman off the field in the third quarter. Brady completed short pass after short pass, replacing a normal rushing attack, before setting up a perfect throw to wide receiver Brandon LaFell, splitting two defenders for the go-ahead score with 5:13 left in the fourth quarter.
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The Patriots’ defense did its job on a Duron Harmon interception, and New England won 35-31 to advance to the AFC Championship Game.
Brady completed 33 of 50 passes for 367 yards with three touchdowns and the interception on the night. He also had for the Patriots’ lone rushing touchdown.
He passed Peyton Manning for most postseason yards in NFL history and Joe Montana for playoff passing touchdowns. It essentially was the definition of a vintage performance.
The quarterback stayed humble after the game, however.
“Well, we got off to a slow start, down 14 to nothing and threw the pick and they got the touchdown before the half, which is not really the way we wanted to go into halftime,” Brady said. “Then they scored again in the third quarter and then we had the good drive there to kind of bounce back. Then we got the double pass for a touchdown to even it up going into the fourth quarter.
“It was a — it took a lot. It took a lot of the team, itâs a lot of energy, but thatâs what weâre here for. Weâre supposed to go out there and make good plays. I thought the guys really — we made them when we needed to.”
And Brady led the way. The Patriots ran the ball 13 times for just 14 yards on the night, yet the Patriots still won against a defense that was supposed to give New England and its offensive line fits.
Comeback wins are nothing new for Brady. He has 34 career fourth-quarter comebacks and 45 game-winning drives, including eight in the postseason, but most didn’t come with a faltering, injured offensive line and an inept running game. This is supposed to be the “twilight” of Brady’s career, and he’s still making perfect throws at the ideal time to win games — and he’s still not content.
Thumbnail photo via Elise Amendola/Associated Press
