Tom Brady says the Patriots ‘will be a different team in two weeks’
Tom Brady threw the ball five times in the first half, the fewest of his career, in the Patriots’ 20-10 loss to the Dolphins.
Since starting 10-0, the Patriots — particularly on offense — have looked different in their final six games, finishing 2-4. For better or worse, the transformation isn’t over.
“I don’t think there’s any simple solutions this time of the year,’’ Brady said on WEEI’s “The Dennis and Callahan Show’’ Monday. “We’ve played a lot of football. There’s been a lot of things that happened over the course of the year, and we’re going to need to put forth our best effort in two weeks. I think that’s what it comes down to. We’re not the team we played in the opening week. We’re not the team we were in Week 8. We’re the team we are in Week 17. We’ll be a different team in two weeks than we are from today based on how we practice and the guys who are going to go out there and play. Does that mean things will be perfect? Absolutely not. We’re going to have to go out there and work hard to achieve our goal.’’
With the Patriots’ loss and the Broncos’ win Sunday, Denver clinched the No. 1 spot in the AFC and homefield advantage through the playoffs. With the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye, the Patriots will play the highest seeded team from the Wild Card round in the AFC Divisional round.
Julian Edelman, Dont’a Hightower, Sebastian Vollmer and Chandler Jones are still rehabbing from injury, but they all seem primed to return for their playoff opener. Devin McCourty, Danny Amendola, and Patrick Chung made their returns from injury against the Dolphins.
“Hopefully we can use this bye week as an advantage,’’ Brady said. “We haven’t had a bye week since Week 4. So I know a lot of guys are fighting through a lot of stuff. We’re going to have play a great game of football whoever we play. This time of year is about how you play, not who you play, or where you play, or any of that. It’s how you play. Hopefully we’ve learned some lessons over the last six weeks, and we can get to playing more Patriot-like football.’’
That could start with better excution in the redzone. Brady pinpointed a drive against the Dolphins where the Patriots stalled in the middle of the second quarter after two 1-yard runs from Brandon Bolden and an incomplete pass.
“Yesterday [Sunday] wasn’t up to our standards,’’ Brady said. “We haven’t executed well at certain moments, and you play a team on the road, and I’m sure we pumped a lot of life into them at the end of the first half. And we just didn’t do enough to overcome it in the second half.’’
Brady said he thought the Patriots could have gotten momentum had they played better in the first half against the Dolphins, though he added momentum will have no bearing on the Patriots’ upcoming performance or their confidence going into the playoffs.
The Patriots quarterback left the game with an injury, returned for a number of drives (including a touchdown drive in the third quarter), but was pulled in the fourth quarter for backup Jimmy Garoppolo. Brady limped off the podium during his postgame press conference, and reportedly suffered an ankle sprain.
He said Monday morning: “I’ve had worse.’’
Tom Brady Career Timeline
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