Tom Brady Expands On His Frustration With Patriots Offense
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady is not happy with the Patriots offense. That much was clear when he grumpily took the podium following the team's 17-10 win over the Eagles on Sunday.
Brady was a man of few words on Sunday afternoon, but expanded on his frustrations on the radio Monday morning. The offense is not the unit leading the way for the Patriots, and in a lot of ways, is taking away from the team. They're 9-1 because of stellar play by the defense, which has made up for a lot of the offense's deficiencies.
"The strength of our team is our defense and our special teams," Brady told WEEI's The Greg Hill Show on Monday. "On offense, we just have to take advantage when we get opportunities and understand where our strengths lie and try and play to them -- not giving any short fields, not turning the ball over and try and take advantage when we get into the red area to score touchdowns. That is kind of where our offense is. That is kind of where our team is."
At this point, the Patriots offense is essentially in "don't screw it up" mode, but even that hasn't been happening. The Patriots can't seem to run the ball with any success, and that hurt them late in the game Sunday when they weren't able to run out the clock, giving Philadelphia another crack at tying the game in the final minute.
That likely has something to do with the offensive line, which is being held together by duct tape at the moment. Marshall Newhouse continues to struggle at left tackle, and it led to some rather fearful moments for Brady on Sunday. Isaiah Wynn's return should help in that department, but given his injury history, it's no sure thing that Wynn is around for the rest of the season.
As for Brady's frustration, he claims that is nothing new for him throughout the season.
"I think I am always, I've said 'generally frustrated' during football season," said Brady. "I think it's very unique. I was very happy we won. Just wish we would have played better offensively. You have to go do it. I don't think it is about talking about it. It's about doing it and trying to get the best we can out of our offense and see if we can be more productive and score more points.
"It's just frustration with the offense," he added. "Just trying to grind them out. I am happy we won on the road, but at the same time just wish we would have scored more points."
New England punted away eight of their possessions on Sunday, going three-and-out on three of them. They settled for three field goals, and their only touchdown came off a double pass throw by Julian Edelman. They were just 1-for-3 in their red zone opportunities, and have scored touchdowns on just 48 percent of their trips inside the opponent's 20-yard line. That's a vast drop from last year's 62.86 percent success rate.
The New England offense remains a work in progress as they hit the stretch run of the season, though the progress is currently absent in many ways. But it took them until late last year to figure things out, and it worked out pretty well in the end. They have six more games to do the same this season, otherwise we'll be hearing a lot more frustration out of the quarterback.
