The lengthy New England Patriots story published Friday on ESPN.com — detailing the reportedly strained relationship between Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft — featured a number of interesting nuggets but also a few details that didn’t seem to add up.
Here’s one of the latter that stood out to me:
The criticism has continued this year, as Brady has been hit a lot and battled various injuries. Atypically, he has missed a lot of practices and, in the team’s private evaluations, is showing the slippage of a 40-year-old quarterback even as he is contending for MVP and is as deadly as ever with the game on the line. Injuries to his shoulder and Achilles have done more than undermine claims that the TB12 Method can help you play football virtually pain-free. Subtle changes have at times hampered the offense and affected the depth chart. On a fourth-quarter play against the Los Angeles Chargers, for instance, Brady had a clean pocket and a first read open deep, possibly for a touchdown. But Brady got rid of the ball quickly over the middle to receiver Chris Hogan, who had nowhere to run and was hit hard, injuring his shoulder. He missed all but one game of the rest of the season. “Tom was trying to get it out quick,” a Patriots staffer says. “As fragility has increased, nervousness has also increased.”
It’s possible — likely, even — that the bumps and bruises Brady has suffered this season have affected his production. He was, after all, notably more erratic over the final six games of the regular season, throwing a least one interception in five of those games and completing just 48.6 percent of his passes in the other.
But his injuries being the reason for Hogan’s? That seems like a stretch, especially when you look at the play in question.
On that play, which came late in the Patriots’ 21-13 win over the Chargers in Week 8, Brady did have wide receiver Brandin Cooks breaking toward the post, but he also had Hogan wide open on a crossing route — the kind of pattern the Patriots’ offense has thrived on for years. The Chargers also boast two of the NFL’s best pass rushers in Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, so his desire to get the ball out quickly was understandable.
Hogan caught the pass — which was thrown slightly behind him — took three steps and was hit hard by linebacker Hayes Pullard, who also was injured on the play. Pullard’s helmet nailed Hogan directly in the bicep, resulting in a shoulder injury that has sidelined the wideout for seven of the past eight games.
That’s unfortunate, but that’s football. Blaming Brady for it isn’t fair.
It’s also worth noting that, at the time, Brady only was dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that he suffered in Week 5. The first mention of his Achilles injury didn’t come until after the Patriots’ Week 11 win over the Oakland Raiders.
