Tom Brady Shows Signs of New Life

Week seven, vs New York Jets (win)

More so than any other game, Tom Brady took advantage of defensive errors against New York. That is not to discredit Brady or the overall production of the offense. Rather, it is a testament to Brady being able to pick out his best match-ups, as well as quickly identify blown coverages. The time allotted for Brady to do so was largely at the hands of his offensive line, as they had their best game of the season.

For a number of reasons, the New York secondary has been in shambles all season long. In this game, Antonio Allen was the biggest issue. He was picked on over and over again by Brady when lined up in the nickel. Aside from Allen’s nickel troubles, the New York secondary was generally blowing coverages and incorrectly jumping routes. Some of them, like Calvin Pryor’s false step in the end zone, ended up having no affect on the play, but mistakes like that were all too common.

Despite the talent of New York’s defensive front, New England’s offensive line corps held up. Tom Brady seemed to have more time to operate than he had in any other game, and even Sebastian Vollmer had a solid outing. Though, when the offensive line stands strong against New York, it is more of a testament to the interior than the tackles because of the defensive tackle terrors that are Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson.

Tom Brady himself was neither bad nor extraordinary in this game, either. He was simply efficient and took what the defense gave him, which was quite a lot in this game. Efficiency is all that is needed to win some games, and such was the case for Brady against New York.

GIF summary of week seven