Brady On Patriots All Access: 'Even When We Win, We Find Ways To Nitpick'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Following a season opening loss to the Miami Dolphins, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady talked about his quality of life when his team doesn't come away with a victory.
No one hates to lose more than Brady, and he said as much leading up to New England's Week 2 win over the Minnesota Vikings. While the Patriots won that game, Brady wasn't all too happy with his offense afterwards, and that showed in his postgame press conference.
This season saw the Patriots get off to a 2-2 start, and following an embarrassing 41-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football in Week 4, that quality of life wasn't very good for Brady and his teammates. There was talk they were done (heck, even their owner was a little nervous), and even prompted some trade talk when it came to the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
Now the Patriots sit 7-2 and are atop the AFC following five straight wins, and that quality of life is back to normal. Still, Brady and his team are always looking for ways to improve.
"It probably feels like we're 2-7 and not 7-2 around here. Even when we win, we find ways to nitpick, but in a positive way," Brady told Scott Zolak on Friday night's edition of Patriots All Access on WBZ-TV. "We're trying to make improvements, trying to get better and be our best every week. That's what it takes in order to achieve the success. You don't win and go 'We got all these problems solved, let's move on to next week.' We're trying to figure out ways to get better."
Even 15 years into his career, Brady himself is looking for ways to get better. He mentioned a few weeks ago that he has placed an emphasis on extending plays by being a little more mobile in the pocket, and buying those extra few seconds have paid dividends in recent weeks.
"We've tried to improve some of those things because you always have to find ways to get better. The competition is always trying to find ways to try to slow you down," he said. "We've converted some of those plays this year, which, why are we in those situations is the first question?
"We've probably had too many third-and-longs, though we've overcome more third-and-longs this year than we did all of last year," Brady noted.
It helps that Brady has a solid arsenal and some pretty big targets to throw to in those must-have situations.
"Sometimes it's, 'Let's try to get half and at least try to improve out punt.' But this year we've been pretty aggressive because we have a lot of big targets out there," he said. "We have guys that can make tough catches in space; Brandon Lafell, Tim Wright, [Rob Gronkowski]. Those guys being out on the field have done a lot for our offense. We're going to try to keep putting pressure on those defenses to stop us no matter what the situation we're in."
LaFell and Wright, and others, have certainly helped New England kick their third down woes from last season, but no one is a bigger piece of that puzzle than Gronkowski. The hulking tight end leads all Patriots' pass-catchers with 664 yards and eight touchdowns. No catch has been bigger than his incredible one-armed grab against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, one that nearly left Brady speechless.
He went into great detail about the play on Patriots All Access, saying it started as a broken play.
"The timing of the play was screwed up. I came off the fake and wanted to throw it, but the 'Mike' linebacker got into that throwing zone. I kind of pumped it and Gronk was still running behind the guy. I saw a little space, and threw it off balance behind him. He went up there and made the catch of a lifetime," said Brady.
"I was pretty pumped up after that play," he said, (and you can see video evidence here). "It was a big play in the game, and on the next one we went back to Gronk for the touchdown. It was a huge play in that game; really that drive was big but Gronk solidified it with that catch and score at the end."
Gronkowski may be the best offensive player in the NFL right now, but the Patriots also have a pretty solid player on the defensive side in Darrelle Revis. Not only has the All Pro corner improved the team in practice, but Brady has made the most out of picking Revis' brain.
"He has been great to play with. I've been lucky enough to have him on our team, finally, as opposed to playing against him like all those years he was on the Jets," said Brady. "Just to have him on the team, and gain some insight the way he sees quarterbacks and offensive football, and just to compete against him, it has raised the level of play of our receivers also.
"Defensively, to have a guy like that where you can put him on another team's best player and essentially take the guy out of the game, that is a huge asset to a defense. He's that kind of player and he accepts the challenge," Brady said of Revis. "He doesn't back down from anything and wants that challenge. It sets a good tone for everybody."
Zolak's interview wouldn't be complete without a question about rookie center Bryan Stork, who has helped solidify the New England offensive line after it had a shaky start to the season. Stork has become a fan favorite not just because he's doing a stellar job keeping Brady upright, but because of his mountain man beard similar to that of Brady protectors of the past (like Matt Light and Logan Mankins).
However, that lack of grooming can be a minor issue at times on the field.
"There is not much grooming from Bryan. He could sweat in 30-degree weather," joked Brady. "I'm always like, 'Man, can you please clean yourself up?' I told him, 'Look, on a 70-degree day I don't want to be throwing a wet football.' So I told him he better figure out something to keep his you-know-what dry. My hands are there quite a bit."
Maybe a little too much information from No. 12, but it gives you a very good pictures just how close a quarterback is to their center -- for better or worse.
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