Tom Brady

As well all know, the New England offense starts and ends with Tom Brady. The man is a machine. And this year the machine looks pissed off. We saw it in their first playoff game against Denver, when Brady exploited a crappy defense for six passing touchdowns. We certainly saw it during the regular season, where Brady racked up over 5200 yards and 39 TD’s as he led the Pats to the AFC’s number one seed. Against the Ravens he wasn’t as stellar, but still ran two QB sneaks at the goal line, resulting in two scores. After promising his owner he’d play better at the Super Bowl, you can bet he’ll be at his best.

Continue reading "Breaking Down the Bowl: New England Patriots"

How many of you had to get an oxygen tank at some point today? These playoffs are been thrilling down to the wire in almost every game, and Conference Championship Sunday lived up to expectations. Both games went down to the wire and left us with two worthy Super Bowl contestants. Let’s break them down in The Final Drive!

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eason in 2009 by these Ravens, the Patriots get a second home-stand to redeem their loss and get to Tom Brady’s fifth Super Bowl. To accomplish this, New England’s defense must step up to the plate and at least hit a double. They don’t need to shut out the Ravens, but holding them to no more than 20 points would be a nice buffer for Brady and the offense. Baltimore’s offense line will have the advantage over New England’s front three, so Ray Rice figures to have holes to run through. It’ll be the second and third levels of the Patriot defense that figures heavily in the final score. Jerod Mayo and Rob Ninkovich are playmakers at the linebacker position, but they’ll need to keep tight ends Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta in their peripherals. (Not that Flacco really gets it to his tight ends enough.) Baltimore’s offense doesn’t have a ton of wrinkles to it, as was exposed last week against the Texans. Anquan Boldin doesn’t get nearly enough targets, but he’s never deep. Torrey Smith only runs a go-route, so as long as Kyle Arrington or Devin McCourty don’t get beat off the block and the safeties Chung and Ihedigbo stay deep, the Patriots shouldn’t have an issue keeping the Ravens off the scoreboard. With all the pressure on Joe Flacco, you’d think it would be the time for him to rise to the occasion. I’m not buying it. He’s slow in the pocket and doesn’t get the ball out quickly. That means the Patriots could get a few good hits on Joe. If you see Flacco struggling on third down and the kicking unit coming on the field early, the Ravens will be in trouble.

Continue reading "The Opening Drive: 2012 AFC Championship"

Go look at the box score for all the crazy statistics. I’ll put it to you plainly: Tom Brady was super pissed that some shitty quarterback got all the attention this week. Brady’s won THREE freaking Super Bowls. He will not be anyone’s sloppy second. Six TD's and a 48-yard punt later, we all knew who the better quarterback was. (Oh, and New England has two beasts at tight end. Not fair.)

Continue reading "The Final Drive: 2012 Divisional Round"

To Denver’s defense I say this: good luck. Tom Brady has Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowki and Aaron Hernandez to throw to and you’ve only got Champ Bailey. And after Isaac Redman tore up some turf against you last Sunday, the Patriots are probably going to have moderate success against you on the ground as well. Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller are your best pass rushers by far, but it’ll be a miracle if they’re not getting chipped at the line on every passing down. Though if they’re not, I would just expect Brady to throw the short patterns and pick you apart. As much of a story as the Denver defense was earlier in the year, they haven’t played all that well lately. They won’t be able to stop Brady. They can only hope to slow him down.The Odds:

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atriots 34
(4-9) Washington Redskins 27
Here’s how I imagine that exchange between Tom Brady and his offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien went after Brady’s first endzone interception in a millennia:

Continue reading "The Final Drive: Week 14, 2011"

Tony Romo taking on Tom Brady in New England. Sounds like the perfect setting for another meltdown… or heroic effort. Who knows? Who cares? This one will be entertaining either way. The Cowboys may have an improved defense, but Brady will abuse that secondary. Wes Welker goes off.(4-1) New Orleans Saints at

Continue reading "The Opening Drive: Week 6, 2011"

There were too many miscues and too much Tom Brady for San Diego to overcome. Brady’s on a wicked tear right now.

(1-1) Atlanta Falcons 35
(1-1) Philadelphia Eagles 31

Did not see that surprise ending coming? Sunday Night Vick ended without Michael Vick! TWIST! Losing Vick is killer for the Eagles, despite Mike Kafka’s decent showing while filling in. Good for the Falcons and Matt Ryan, who avoid dropping to 0-2 and win a game everyone says is significant. (But kind wasn’t.) 

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Oh, and Tom Brady is good for another 35+ touchdowns. It’ll happen. Effing Patriots.

2010 Record: 14-2
2011 Prediction: 13-3

New York Jets

I thought long and hard about getting the Jets to ten wins… I just couldn’t do it. I feel like teams should start to get a hold on how to beat them this year. They’re relying on Mark Sanchez’s progression too much and are counting on Plaxico Burress to give them a deep threat so far removed from his game action. I’m not sure either will happen to the level that is necessary for this team to make it to the AFC title game again, much less the Super Bowl. LaDainian Tomlinson will have even less gas than what he showed in 2010, leaving Shonn Greene the lone playmaker in the backfield. Without Brad Smith, I assume the offense will lose some of its explosion. On Rex Ryan’s defense, Muhammad Wilkerson was drafted to get some penetration from the end spot, but they let Shaun Ellis go to New England, taking his 4.5 sacks with him. Not a great subtraction for a team struggling to get to the passer without always blitzing. Though even after failing to land Asomugha in free agency, they still brought back Antonio Cromartie to pair with Revis, so I guess constant blitzing is still on the menu. I just can’t believe this defense can win enough games to keep them in contention. Oh, and I really hate them. Really. Almost as much as I hate the Patriots. Almost.

Continue reading "Joe's 2011 NFL Season Preview: The AFC East"

 So that was a fun weekend, right? After some delicious divisional round fun, the stages are set for Conference Championship Sunday in the NFL. Before that, let's take a look at how this weekend's games went down.

Continue reading "Joe's 2011 NFL Final Drive: Divisional Round"

New England Patriots start their playoff run as big favorites over their talkative division rival. Tom Brady has had arguably his best year as a pro in a season where the Pats traded away their number one receiver early on. You saw the difference without Randy Moss when Brady lit up the Jets for 45 points in a blow-out. Without Moss, the Jets have no one focus on defense besides for Wes Welker, who still finds a way to get open anyway.

Continue reading "Joe's 2011 NFL Opening Drive: Divisional Round"

That’s how they operate. Tom Brady was masterful, cutting the wind with each of his throws to wide open receivers who found the holes in a defense that couldn’t get any pressure on number twelve. The Patriots’ return men gashed the Bear kick coverage units routinely, setting up Brady with excellent field position. As soon as the Patriots got up two scores, I had little faith in a comeback. Bill Belichick doesn’t lose when you give him a lead.

Continue reading "Joe's Gameday Recap: Patriots 36, Bears 7"

ront (as it always does), but this week the ability of the front four to get pressure is paramount. Tom Brady is no threat to run from the pocket, but he will absolutely pick any defense part if he has time, no matter how many they drop into coverage. Chicago’s cover-two defends well against the big play but there are holes in the zone to be found. Brady has no problem taking those short passes over the middle of watching his receivers make plays after the catch. Fortunately, the field conditions may slow down the likes of Wes Welker, Brandon Tate and Danny Woodhead, leaving them open to big hits from Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Chris Harris.

Continue reading "Joe's Gameday Preview: Patriots at Bears"

Week two is in the books and that means it's time for a Final Drive! What teams surprisingly fell to 0-2 and which ones made the 2-0 leap! Let's get it on!

(2-0) Pittsburgh Steelers 19
(1-1) Tennessee Titans 11

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That Patriot offense came in and blew the doors off the vaunted Bengal defense, led by Tom Brady and his favorite target, the miraculously-healthy Wes Welker. What was the biggest surprise however, was the play of New England's defense. Holding the Bengal offense in check is a strong start for a young unit. For the Bengals, let's keep an eye on T.O. and Ocho if they start to lose. Drama!

Continue reading "Joe's Final Drive: Week 1"

p>Amidst Jets fever, it's easy to forget that the New England Patriots won this division last year. Tom Brady is two years removed from his injury and should be completely healthy. Banged up in 2009, the now 33 year old Brady still threw for 4398 yards and 28 touchdowns. With Randy Moss in a contract year, the receiver will be out to impress the NFL in case he moves on in free agency. Wes Welker is back from his knee surgery, but won't get close to the 123 catches of last season. Luckily, Julian Edelman came on strong in his absence and will see an increased role in this offense. The offensive line isn't as dependable, weakened by injuries and guard Logan Mankins' holdout. Tight ends Alge Crumpler and Rob Gronkowski will see plenty of throws their way. What remains to be seen is if the running game becomes effective enough during the course of the season to take some of the pressure off Brady and that high-powered passing attack. If Laurence Maroney and Fred Taylor don't have the holes in front of them or can't break a big one, Brady won't get any help.

Continue reading "Joe's NFL 2010 Season Preview: AFC East"

e to embarrassing Bill Belichick's Patriots 33-14.

 

On the following Patriots possession, Tom Brady was stripped by Terrell Suggs, who also recovered the fumble to set up a Le'Ron Mclain 1-yard touchdown scat. Two Brady interceptions stopped Patriot drives in their tracks, setting up another Rice score and a Billy Cundiff field goal to bring the score to an impossible 24-0 before the first quarter ended. After that, the Baltimore defense only needed to avoid a monumental collapse as the Raven offense dominated the line of scrimmage for 234 yards on the ground. 

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factor in whether Baltimore can pull off the upset.

In New England, things just aren't the same. Tom Brady may be the comeback player of the year, but he's not playing at his best yet. He'll be without Wes Welker until next year, so rookie receiver Julian Edelman has to step in and be that possession receiver. Edelman won't have the experience, but he could be quicker than Welker. I don't think it will be a steep drop-off in production. Randy Moss should see all the double coverage he can handle. Back Laurence Maroney has come on in the second half of the year to bring a running game back to New England. For all the offensive talent, the Patriots' defense has been the problem all year. Young, inconsistent and inexperienced, the secondary has made too many mistakes. They aren't pressuring opposing quarterbacks. It's difficult to win in the postseason with that combination.

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It could have happened warming up. His loss will leave QB Tom Brady without his favorite receiver and plenty of double coverage for Randy Moss. For the Texans, congratulations are due for the first winning season in franchise history, but they couldn't sneak into the playoffs. Regardless, QB Matt Schaub, who led the league in passing yards, gives them hope for the immediate future.

Continue reading "Joe's Final Drive: Week 17"

 The real question is how long the Patriots will feel like playing. Tom Brady says he expects to play the entire game, but I'm not convinced. Perhaps a half, but anything beyond that would be foolish. Bill Belichick's Pats aren't playing for anything other than the 3 or 4 seed, so unless they prefer to play San Diego I don't envision more than a half for Brady, Welker and Moss. Houston should get the win unless Belichick has a second coach-fart this season. 

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Happy Holidays everyone! After watching the San Diego Chargers take hold of the number two seed in the AFC by knocking off the Titans Christmas evening, I'm ready for a great Sunday in the NFL. Even though the NFC playoff picture is pretty clear, the AFC is still wide open. Let's get to the Opening Drive of week 16! 

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There were a few games I couldn’t even pretend to drum up a story for. Monday night’s Baltimore v. Cleveland match-up is beyond ugly. Still, there's plenty of drama for the week 10 edition of the Opening Drive! 

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New England will be squarely in the driver’s seat as Tom Brady gets more acclimated to the speed of the game again. Doesn’t bode well for the rest of the AFC East. Still, Miami has another chance to turn some heads with a strong performance. I expect to see some new Wildcat tweaks against the team Miami used as the guinea pig for the formation a year ago. To Miami's Joey Porter: we all knew

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I think it’s safe to say Tom Brady is back. 

(2-4) Buffalo Bills 16
(3-3) New York Jets 13 

HAHAHAHA. Oh Mark Sanchez, you’re SO not ready yet. His lack of experience will start to hurt him this season as teams see more film and recognize his tendencies. He’ll still be a good quarterback in the league, but right now he’s going to have some huge growing pains. Dick Jauron may have saved his job for a few weeks, thanks to a great performance from back-up QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who came in after Trent Edwards left the game with a concussion. 

Continue reading "Joe's Final Drive: Week 6"

Yes, I was simultaenously rooting against the Broncos and the Patriots. Yes, Tom Brady had a bad game. Yes the Broncos now have to be considered one of the best teams in the AFC. Yes, Josh McDaniels' post-game crowd-pumping was refreshingly genuine. Let’s just move on already. I feel sick.

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Against Tom Brady and the Patriots offense, Denver’s defense will meet its biggest challenge so far this season. Without running back Fred Taylor, the Patriots will struggle on the ground, forcing Brady to air it out against Brian Dawkins, Champ Bailey, and the Denver secondary. Lucky for him he has Randy Moss and Wes Welker as receivers. This is without question the game of the weekend.

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altimore Ravens 21 

Okay, so has everyone gotten the “don’t touch or breathe on Tom Brady’s legs” memo? Ray Lewis, you can complain all you want about bad penalties or ball spots; it still doesn’t change that fact that your defense let

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. 

-The hated Patriots improved to 2-1 with a pretty convincing win over the Falcons, though Tom Brady didn't quite air it out like he used to -- again. Nonetheless, the Pats had this one under control. Fred Taylor broke out in a nice way for them. Randy Moss played through injury while Wes Welker sat another one out. Neither scenario seemed to effect the outcome much. Moss was solid, if unspectacular. 

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rsquo;s an elite quarterback this Sunday, and there’s no better way to do it than to out-duel Tom Brady. The Patriots are struggling on defense, but Wes Welker’s return to action should do wonders for Brady and their underneath passing attack.

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Holding down Tom Brady and the Patriots to three field goals? That’s impressive. Rex Ryan’s defense is the real deal, but let's hold off on putting Mark Sanchez in the hall of fame. There’s still time, but things have to get right in Bean-town if the Pats want to win this division.

Continue reading "Joe's Final Drive: Week 2"

 

With 16 games in the regular season, losing your first two isn’t a cause for panic, but it is a cause for concern. In the Week 2 edition of the Opening Drive, here are some teams who need to avoid an 0-2 start.

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Despite being down 11 points with only four minutes to go, Tom Brady found a way. Randy Moss caught 12 balls for 141 yards, proving that he’s still a difference maker. Still, I don’t think Belichick wanted Brady to throw 53 times.

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Buffalo’s defense is solid if nothing else, but Tom Brady and the Pats will carve them up.

Oh yeah, Tom Brady’s back. Didja hear? The record-setting QB won’t have any injury problems this year, we wouldn’t be that lucky to avoid the Brady-love fest for another season. Adding Fred Taylor could bring a level of stability to their running game, but their downfield passing attack will still be the focus of the Patriot offense. Even after losing Josh McDaniels to Denver, the Patriots are poised to lay the wood to Buffalo on Monday night. After trading DE Richard Seymour and Tedy Bruschi's retirement, the Patriots defense will continue to get younger, which can only mean good things for Bill Belichick's squad.

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no. Tom Brady? Not even with his super-model love life.

Only Jack Nicklaus' 18 Grand Slam titles is, for now, preventing Tiger from dominating the conversation as the all-time greatest golfer. Yet, for all Tiger's accomplishments, 68 titles, 14 majors at age 33, he's simply not the greatest athlete of his generation.

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legitimate chance of making the post season in a year that seemed that all hope was gone. 

Tom Brady should be nervous. After all, it seems like Karma to me. Brady did it to Bledsoe, so it was only a matter of time. Speaking of similarities, I see Bill Belichick standing behind Matt Cassel rubbing his hands together and laughing maniacally like a mad scientist. This is a formula. And this is what Bill Belichick had in mind the entire time. 

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with the media, but is he a genius?)

We’re about to find out.

With mega-star quarterback Tom Brady done for the season, what better time is there to examine Belichick’s brilliance? (Excuse the alliteration; it’ll happen quite a bit.) Let’s face it, his tenure as head coach of the Cleveland Browns wasn’t exactly worthy of the hall of fame. His real success began in 2002 when the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI. That was ironically the same season that sixth-round nobody

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e D: This unit managed to do five times what was only done 21 times the entire season – sack Tom Brady. In fact, they made him look a lot more ordinary!

5. Bill Belichick: He spen

Continue reading "5 Reasons the New York Giants Won Super Bowl XLII"

On one side we have a Giants team that is best suited to try and play ball control and keep Tom Brady and the vaunted Patriots' offense off the field. But football is unique in that days of gameplanning can be shot to hell almost instantly. The Patriots can win the coin toss, receive the opening kickoff and, if they execute as they have for the majority of this season, put the Giants in an early hole. If this happens, how long will the Giants remain patient? If the Giants win the toss, they can at least attempt early on to slow the pace of the game and see what their running attack can accomplish against an aging New England linebacking corps. Given the fact that I do not like either team at all, I would at least like to see a competitive contest. So I'm using the premise that the Giants win the toss and at least keep the game competitive in the early stages.

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are a laugh riot! Imagine, Donté Stallworth or Wes Welker taking over as quarterback from Tom Brady. Actually, it was rather amusing. Each of these players calmly answered the speculation of their MVP’s health by saying Bill Belichick had asked them to take over the helm. Each never flinched, as if to say how absurd the speculation is. I agree,

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