Tom Brady proves in Buffalo that, sometimes, he’s going to look like he’s 42 years old
Brady’s 45.9 passer rating Sunday against the Bills was the fifth-lowest of his career.
COMMENTARY
Here are just some of the names of quarterbacks who, through the first four games of the 2019 NFL season, have a better quarterback rating than six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.
Kyle Allen (118.3)
Lamar Jackson (109.4)
Gardner Minshew (106.9)
Marcus Mariota (106.2)
Jacoby Brissett (102.1)
The list also includes expected candidates such as Patrick Mahomes (120.4), Russell Wilson (118.7), and Dak Prescott (113.7), not to mention Julian Edelman, with a 118.8 rating on his only pass of the season.
Brady’s quarterback rating of 97.5, meanwhile, isn’t anything that suggests the supposedly-imminent cliff, last detected moving toward Foxborough at a glacial pace, is finally upon us. After all, he finished the 2018 season with a 97.7 rating, his lowest since 2014 (97.4). He only won the Lombardi Trophy at the end of both those seasons.
So, what is there to make following one of Brady’s worst performances of his Hall of Fame career?
Maybe nothing. After all, the Patriots outlasted the Buffalo Bills, 16-10, to remain undefeated on the young year.
Then again, in case you haven’t heard, the man is 42 years old.
According to NFL Research, Brady’s 45.9 passer rating Sunday against the Bills was the fifth-lowest of his career, and was the lowest he had ever had in a victory. It was his lowest passer rating in a game in 4,711 days since his 34.0 rating in Week 9, 2006 vs the Colts.
The last time the Patriots played the Bills — in December of last year — Brady wasn’t much better, posting a 48.3 rating in his team’s 24-12 win. He racked up four-straight 100-plus ratings in the regular season games since before being humbled again by the Bills on Sunday.
So, maybe this is a Bills thing, a welcome threat in an AFC East that annually reeks of doormats that Brady and company kick aside with normalcy. Except now, the Bills’ defense is good. Not just advertised good either. We saw it Sunday. It’s good.
But anytime Brady looks like he’s 42 years old, it’s going to cause some semblance of concern.
“Offensively, we struggled,” Brady said during his dour postgame press conference. “They force a lot of teams to struggle, and if we’re going to score more points, then we have to do a lot better job than we did today. We didn’t, so that’s just the way it goes.”
It was a bad game for Brady, who finished the day 18-of-39 for 150 yards, no touchdowns, and his first interception of the season.
Even worse, it was a bad game for a 42-year-old quarterback. Cue cliff talk.
It might take a little more work to dig into some other factors as to why Brady had a worse passer rating on the day than Buffalo backup Matt Barkley (56), but what the heck.
There was the injury-riddled offensive line laying out the welcome mat for Bills defenders, leading to no sacks, but forcing Brady to discharge the football quicker than normal before allowing himself to take a hit.
There was Julian Edelman, at less than 100 percent, playing with a chest injury. The calf injury that landed Brady on last week’s injury report may be worse than originally feared (old pal Eric Mangini with the slam dunk hot take on that note). There was also an overwhelmed Phillip Dorsett, perhaps proving why Brady hasn’t been as enamored with him as some others have in the past.
Brady happens to be adjusting to an offense that is trying to redefine itself with no Rob Gronkowski nor — as fleeting as his presence was — Antonio Brown. It’s also an offense that has seen running back Sony Michel lead the ground game into something resembling…well, nothing.
But consider that Brady’s crop of receivers has gone through a certain identity crisis of its own. Once Brown was on board, it meant head coach Bill Belichick was open to dealing Demaryius Thomas to the Jets. Then, once Brown was on board, it meant understanding what that ultimately meant and severing ties. Suddenly, Brady was down two top-tier receivers with the 33-year-old Edelman and the unpredictable availability of Josh Gordon leading the way.
An ideal situation it is not. Put it all into the fire of what is a very good Buffalo defense, and Belichick had every right to be as giddy about the win as his players seemed disappointed for their part in it.
“Great team effort by our guys,” he said, “really proud of our players. They stepped up, showed a lot of mental and physical toughness in this game.”
It was the kind of game that Belichick probably dreams about, a defensive effort on both sides of the ball where two of the three phases of the game (defense, special teams) helped seal the victory that the offense couldn’t produce. Quarterback rating? Belichick would probably rather inquire about Hannah Storm’s wedding day than as to why his quarterback struggled against an opposing defense for which he’s suddenly found respect.
Somebody should remind him that his quarterback is 42 years old though. See if he freaks out.
For now, it’s just a bad day for Brady, the 42-year-old quarterback, against a good defense probably going nowhere.
Jacksonville’s Gardner Minshew is 23. Twenty-three-year-olds can have good days (97.2).
Tom Brady is 42. Forty-two-year-olds can have bad days.
Age may one day, finally, dictate Brady’s play. But this isn’t it. No cliff in sight.
