New England Patriots

The good and the bad from Tom Brady’s performance against the Giants

Brady finished 16 of 26 with a touchdown and interception in the preseason finale.

Three turnovers marred an otherwise strong first half for the Patriots offense. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

By Ryan Hathaway

2 minutes to read

In his final performance before the Deflategate suspension, Tom Brady had a pretty good night. He made one big mistake, and a Patriots offense that was missing Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola, and Malcolm Mitchell occasionally made things harder for him by dropping passes and fumbling twice.

GOOD

Let’s start with what he did right, such as this pinpoint pass that he threw just within Aaron Dobson’s catch radius, but throwing a strong, high pass that was out of the reach of the two defenders who were closing in:

But where Dobson occasionally struggled with consistency, catching three passes on seven targets, rookie running back D.J. Foster was much more efficient, hauling in nine of the ten passes thrown his way, such as this one, here:

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Neither was a true “deep ball” the likes of which one might see Ben Roethlisberger or Joe Flacco launch downfield, but they were deep enough to stretch the field, and it was encouraging to see given that Brady is usually focused on the short, over-the-middle passes.

But of course the “best” of the positive contributions was this short touchdown pass to Keshawn Martin, the last TB12 touchdown that Patriots fans will be graced with until his Week 5 return:

BAD

Brady’s receivers didn’t show the usual Patriots poise, as Dobson continued to be a talented pass-catcher prone to mental lapses and newcomer Martellus Bennett was stripped after coming down with a reception in the first quarter.

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Foster also dropped the ball (literally) by fumbling away the chance at a near-perfect night – and earning Brady’s unwavering trust – in the second quarter. But Brady himself wasn’t perfect either, as the star quarterback finished the night with a lower passer rating than backup Jacoby Brissett, at just 76.8, and he wasn’t able to find the end-zone in the team’s second red zone opportunity.

The only true ugly moment for Brady came on the very first drive. He started the drive with a screen play to Edelman, which the Giants quickly diagnosed and tackled the wideout for a loss. He followed that up by missing the receiver deep down the right sideline, and after coming up short when trying the play again, was bailed out by a defensive holding call. He then threw to Bennett, but the tight end had very little separation, and it was a pretty easily forced incompletion.

And then, this happened:

Brady clearly seemed to telegraph the pass to Dobson, looking the receiver’s way from the moment he took the snap. He didn’t even notice Giants journeyman cornerback Trevin Wade, immediately break for the ball.

 

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