So is this the end for Tom Brady or merely a small drop-off before the 41-year-old goes on another impressive tear?
After the Patriots’ 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, many proclaimed the end is here for Brady and the New England dynasty. Don’t count Trent Dilfer among the doubters, though.
While Brady has been a far cry from his NFL MVP season of a year ago, Dilfer believes the quarterback’s struggles are due to the Patriots’ offensive scheme in 2018 and not a diminished skill set.
“It’s been a different Patriots offense,” Dilfer said on The Ringer’s “Dual Threat with Ryen Russillo” podcast. “It’s been more two-back, run-centric, play-action, extended drops downfield stuff. A lot of perimeter throws. More perimeter throws being outside the numbers than I’ve ever seen by the Patriots.
“Again, none of this is bad, it’s just different. And if you go back and you put on — pick a year — when (Brady) is on fire, one of his stretches where he throws 13 touchdowns, no interceptions, he’s throwing for a 75 percent clip. I mean there’s countless stretches of offense he’s had like that. It’s different than what they are doing this year. It was more spread out, almost always single-back offense with three receivers and a tight end on the field or multiple versions of that. Formationally spread you boundary to boundary, more motions and shifts to create matchups, and more of him at the line of scrimmage in five- and six-man protections directing traffic, exposing a defense that was going to try to attack them in some new flavor of the week. And his M.O. was he’d kill you by 1,000 cuts in the middle of the field, throwing the ball short to intermediate, getting out of his hand in 2.3ish seconds.
“So they’re not doing that as much this year, and I think it’s not allowing him to at this age and with his skill set to be the best he can be. I think their approach at the start of the season was, ‘let’s play this model to protect our defense a little bit. We’re going to have to protect our defense and have longer sustained drives and be more physical in the run game. We have bigger offensive linemen than we’ve ever had before so let’s utilize that personnel.’ And again, it hasn’t been bad, but I don’t think it suits Tom Brady the best. Where he is the greatest of all-time is in what I said: Getting the ball, making the quick decision and accurately throwing to a guy in the five- to 12-yard area in a position where he can run after the catch. I’ve seen less of that this year than I think I’ve ever seen, except for maybe his first couple of years in the league when that was kind of their M.O. They want to dumb it down and just it’s simpler. More James White, more (Rob Gronkowski) spread out, more (Julian) Edelman, (Chris) Hogan, (Josh) Gordon on the field at the same time. Do that and you’ll see the old Tom Brady here down the stretch.”
The Patriots certainly hope Dilfer is right and that a few minor tweaks to the offense will unlock the Brady of old. New England currently sits at 9-5 with the third seed in the AFC. If the standings hold, the Pats will play on Wild Card Weekend for the first time since 2009 and likely need to win on the road twice to head back to the Super Bowl.
