Stud: Tom Brady
Tom Brady statistically put together his worst performance of the season a week ago in Week 4 against the Buffalo Bills, finishing with just 150 yards passing and no touchdowns. On Sunday against the Redskins, however, Brady bounced back in a big way.
The quarterback, who is in his 20th season in the NFL and with the Patriots this year, finished the game with a total of 348 yards passing through the air, converting on 28 of his total 42 pass attempts. Brady also added three touchdowns while also throwing for one interception.
Brady returned to form in Week 5 to help boost New England to yet another win, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Dud: Pressure on the quarterback
While Brady did have a good overall performance behind center for New England on Sunday afternoon in the nation’s capital, one dud that took place for the Patriots was the pressure they allowed on their veteran quarterback throughout the course of the contest.
Brady did ultimately throw for nearly 350 yards and tallied three touchdown passes, but he was pressured a fair amount when facing up against the Redskins defense in the blowout victory. Overall, Brady was sacked a total of four times, which combined for a loss of 36 overall yards in the game. He did also manage to turn the ball over once, throwing one interception.
It will be important for New England to protect its star quarterback moving forward and making sure the amount of pressure and hits he faces are limited for the rest of the regular season to keep him as healthy as possible.