Patriots gridiron news: Tom Brady, Sony Michel and a heatwave of frustration
A disappointing 31-20 beatdown at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars has Tom Brady and the New England Patriots frustrated and dehydrated.
It happens about once every season. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots put together an embarrassing performance that has the rest of the league chuckling and the haters rejoicing that there is a changing of the guard in the AFC.
The Jacksonville Jaguars got theirs on Sunday. Led by Dan Marino…um…I mean Blake Bortles, the Duval County Big Cats avenged an AFC Championship loss to beat the Patsies 31-20 on a hot and humid afternoon down there in Florida.
This wasn’t your mid-80s red-and-white uniform Steve Grogan led Patriots, but at times it felt like we were trickling back to those days prior to 2001 when the lack of talent and weakness in game plan were exposed on a weekly basis.
So, now that the overreaction is done, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady will find a way to keep this team at the top of the AFC. The Jaguars made their statement, but the Patriots will somehow have the last laugh. That’s how it always goes in September.
Despite getting down 14-0 to the magic of Bortles, the New England Patriots were a couple of plays from making it a game or even winning the game. Showing signs of life, Tom Brady’s crew showed a little fight towards the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter. They were a Cordarelle Patterson self-tackle and a strip-sack away from turning the party down in Jacksonville into a sequel of the 28-3 comeback in Super Bowl LI.
Folks, that’s where the frustration comes in. Speaking to the media following the game, Brady highlighted the miscues and called for more urgency from his teammates not to dig themselves that kind of hole in the first place.
"“It’s a long year,” Brady said, as transcribed by WEEI. “You have a bad day against a good team. We certainly had a bad day. You’ve got to learn from bad days. Things just don’t magically happen. You’ve got to make them happen. All of us have to have more urgency to do things right more often over the course of practices and games, and then it’s a matter of us going out and executing. But it was us. First couple of drives, it was us.”"
In his 19th season in the NFL, Tom Brady has seen games like this before. He has certainly heard the noise signaling a demise a few times in his long tenure. If there is anyone not to count out it is him. If there is any team not to count out through Week 2, it is the New England Patriots.
This Jacksonville loss wasn’t as shocking as the media is trying to make it out to be. However, it should serve as the wake-up call the team and coaches always get at this time in September. They can’t just walk on the field and win, they have to do their jobs. From Bill Belichick on down to little Riley McCarron on the practice squad.