So, uh, Brady... IS THE GREATEST QB OF ALL TIME NOT EVEN CLOSE SCREW YOU MONTANA

[Valek123]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11814069/tom-brady-new-england-patriots-shows-new-mechanics-win-broncos-writes-seth-wickersham
 
Brief ESPN article on Brady regarding training techniques to make him better at moving around and out of the pocket.  Some interesting tidbits into Brady's training techniques.

 
This article is one of the many things I love about the Brady era, he is not afraid to continue to tweak and make adjustments to his delivery and footwork to make himself better.  Seems like a no-brainer to want to continuously improve, but so many quarterbacks when talking about their off-seasons aren't focused on these "micro" adjustments and focus on other things.  He's fun to watch, and it seems like his plan is miles form where it was 4 games ago - better decisions, better pocket movement, just plain flat more confident with swagger again.  Must be amazing to come in as a rookie QB and work your tail off to get better watching #12.
 
This is what has made me find the interviews with the some of the questionable QB's so fascinating (Geno's, Russells, Leafs, Sanchez, Young, Ponders, Gabbert...), when you listen to them talk they seem like they have arrived, confidence is one thing but they just gave the impression they had reached the level they were content with.  It's amazing to watch the top qb's and listen to their game prep/talk strategy, even the one's that don't present themselves as intellectual when discussing other things(Rivers) are amazing to hear discuss the segments of the game they zone in on.
 
I'm enjoying the ride, we never know when this train will end but man it's been a fun decade to be a Pats fan.

 

[RetractableRoof]

This article overlooks an important differentiator: Bill Belichick's consistent presence as a shaper of the teams Brady has played for. 
 
For instance, is it possible that Brady throwing to "inferior" receivers is related to (and not just a side note illustrating) his success?
 
E.g., recognizing that he had both a superior quarterback and limited personnel maneuverability, Belichick has sometimes decided to spend his resources on other things (other aspects of the team, sustainability over less-than-ideal talent adds, etc).  While bad for Brady's stats, it's been good for his overall winning percentage.  
 
Thinking about it, when Brady was young, defense was the team's primary calling card. When Brady was in his prime, Bill grew the team into a super-charged offensive juggernaut.  When it was time to rebuild, Belichick decided he'd rather spend limited resources on creating a balanced team then prolonging an unbalanced offense-heavy club - and he took offensive tools away from Brady knowing that Tom could make up for a lot of that with his talent.  As Brady has aged, Belichick has changed offensive schemes to play to Brady's changing offensive strengths (lightning quick reads; being better at short-and mid routes featuring tight ends and slot receivers than pitch and catch to Moss-like deep threats, etc.).  
 
There's been an evolving master plan, guided by an intelligent hand, for Brady's team - quite literally throughout his entire career.  Brady supplied talent and intelligence of his own, but his teams have always been put in a position to succeed.  I think that's a big reason why the winning percentage stats look so good.  

Not being facetious... but do we also have to find a way to measure football IQ as it relates to team building? Because Manning seems to have demanded HOF QB pay levels as well whuch in someways limited what his GM/coach could put on the field for teammates. Brady has typically (not always) given the Patriots a discount which allowed them to have a larger middle tier of teammate talent. I'd argue that fiscal restraint by Brady was a large factor in the quality of the team on the field. Do we give Brady credit for not Romo'ing the salary cap?

 

[weeba]

 

[Ed Hillel]

"Kevinnn! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY ROOM!?"

 

[Jack Sox]

Look at the mitts on the kid.

 

[DJnVa]

That dude is now fucking a supermodel.

 

[Old Fart Tree]

That dude is now fucking a supermodel.

 
It's fucking brain-boggling, isn't it???

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

It's D&C on EEI, and they talk to Brady every week, but this interview from Monday is Brady at his best. Basically, the mid portion, where they ask him about what he does that other QBs don't, is exactly how I want my kids to approach whatever they choose to do in life: always have a rationale for your decision-making. Is this going to make me better at what I do, or not?
 
He's just so good all the time. Pretty amazing.

 

[TomTerrific]

It's D&C on EEI, and they talk to Brady every week, but this interview from Monday is Brady at his best. Basically, the mid portion, where they ask him about what he does that other QBs don't, is exactly how I want my kids to approach whatever they choose to do in life: always have a rationale for your decision-making. Is this going to make me better at what I do, or not?
 
He's just so good all the time. Pretty amazing.

 
This should probably go in the "Things I Learned Recently" thread in P&G, but that is the most godawful speech-to-text transcript I have ever seen. Consider the following passage:
 
"In Vegas there are real good team obviously and we played at home so. State they played really well on Jews and if they got a great quarterbacks so it's going to be a little differently to get ready and completely agree Kenexa and it."
 
$10 to anyone who has any clue what is being talked about there without listening to the tape.
 
Or take this nugget:
 
"Brutal way you know strength training and conditioning and you know how I really treat my body it's it's important because there's really not but I also think Youkilis played football also."
 
Trust me when I tell you that Kevin Youkilis isn't in their discussion, even obliquely, so why the hell pull that word out of the dictionary?
 
So, is this just what happens when they take the output straight from whatever transcription software they have without human editing, or is EEI just using the K-Mart version here, or what?

 

[H78]

I didn't notice that :rolling:
 
Poor EEI. I love how at the top of the transcript they have a small disclaimer: "TRANSCRIPT - Will not be 100% accurate."
 
Apparently finding the room to seat slave labor - aka college interns - is also too much of an expense these days.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Hilarious. I never looked at the transcript before. I usually play the interviews in the car on my drive. It's really the best way to listen to EEI - just listen to all the decent interviews without any of the half-assed observations. 

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

And then there's this. 
 

 
Brady certainly got several interesting questions, including one where he was asked whether or not he views himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
 
"That's a great question," Brady said. "The truth is, no, I don't. I don't think that way. That's not something I ever really thought about. I think I probably see myself very differently than that. A lot of times I watch myself play and think 'God, I wish I would have made that play.' There's so many other players that are playing the game at such a high level. I see players like Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees play and think 'Man, I wish I could do some of the things they could do.'
"A lot of it is I play for a great team, I play for a great organization. I've really been in the right place at the right time. Hopefully I learn from my mistakes and I can keep improving, but I feel like my best is still ahead of me. I don't get a chance to reflect very often, nor do I really like to reflect at this point because I'm still really in the middle of my career, but I hope I can keep getting better as a player and get better as a teammate and hopefully win more games."

 
Someday there will be an entire class at some marketing school dedicated to Tom Brady and how to answer questions in an unscripted public environment. He never misses a note. 
 
The whole thing, taking questions from sailors on the USS America, is pretty cool. 

 

[JMDurron]

Leaving out Flacco and Eli is a nice touch.

 

[Old Fart Tree]

Yeah, that's some hot burnsauce

 

[ilol@u]

ESPN's next headline will be "Brady snubs Andrew Luck in interview".
But class act all the way, Bill Belichick and Brady are experts in the way they handle their interviews - yet they both have complete opposite ways in doing it. Brady seems like a humble "Oh shucks", give a generalized option kind of guy, will Belichick seems like a fuck-you-I'm-not-answering-your-pathetic-shit kind of guy. 

 

[soxhop411]

from that interview which they just talked about on FS1

 
On Monday, Brady did an interview with WEEI radio in Boston, and he talked about how he stays youthful.
One of his strategies: getting plenty of sleep.
In a recent column, ESPN's Bill Simmons said that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman told him Brady goes to sleep at 8:30 each night.
WEEI asked Brady about the 8:30 p.m. bedtime. He said he went to sleep so early because football was the only thing he loved to do, and all his decisions were designed to keep him playing at an age when most players retire.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-brady-sleep-2014-11#ixzz3Ipn2ZFuC

 

[H78]

I'm gonna set an alarm on my phone for that time each night to remind myself that while I'm sitting alone and bare-assed on the couch of my shitty apartment eating Cheerios and drinking shitty beer and watching shitty Nerflix documentaries I can take solace in knowing Tom Brady is fucking the hottest super model in the world in their $40,000/mo apartment before he wakes up 8 or 9 hours later refreshed and hangoverless and gets to play NFL football for Bill Belichick.

Life...not fair.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

I'm gonna set an alarm on my phone for that time each night to remind myself that while I'm sitting alone and bare-assed on the couch of my shitty apartment eating Cheerios and drinking shitty beer and watching shitty Nerflix documentaries I can take solace in knowing Tom Brady is fucking the hottest super model in the world in their $40,000/mo apartment before he wakes up 8 or 9 hours later refreshed and hangoverless and gets to play NFL football for Bill Belichick.

Life...not fair.

Maybe you should fly to Western Africa so that you can appreciate what YOU have. Are you going to set an alarm on the new smartphone you own? At least you can afford an apartment, Cheerios, shitty beer, and Netflix.
 
Maybe you'll catch Ebola while you're there.
 
The people that have the things you want aren't sitting on their ass eating junk food and drinking beer.

 

[H78]

It was a joke. Apparently a bad one?

 

[Rico Guapo]

Maybe you should fly to Western Africa so that you can appreciate what YOU have. Are you going to set an alarm on the new smartphone you own? At least you can afford an apartment, Cheerios, shitty beer, and Netflix.
 
Maybe you'll catch Ebola while you're there.
 
The people that have the things you want aren't sitting on their ass eating junk food and drinking beer.

 
Lighten up Francis.

 

[The Talented Allen Ripley]

Maybe you should fly to Western Africa so that you can appreciate what YOU have. Are you going to set an alarm on the new smartphone you own? At least you can afford an apartment, Cheerios, shitty beer, and Netflix.
 
Maybe you'll catch Ebola while you're there.
 
The people that have the things you want aren't sitting on their ass eating junk food and drinking beer.

 
Jesus, you suck.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

I know.

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Are they genuine Cheerios or the store brand knock off? That'll help me decide whether H78 is an overprivileged asshole. Even kids in hospitals with terminal diseases eat real Cheerios.

 

[PBDWake]

Are they genuine Cheerios or the store brand knock off? That'll help me decide whether H78 is an overprivileged asshole. Even kids in hospitals with terminal diseases eat real Cheerios.

 
I once ate knock off Cheerios when I was babysitting for a couple as a teenager. I would have rather eaten the cardboard box they came in, and mentioned as much to the father. He explained he didn't buy them for eating. They used them to help potty train their little boy, who liked to hit bullseyes when they tossed them in the toilet. Pretty much the only logical thing to do with them.

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Sounds like you worked for a very privileged family. H78 can't afford a pot to piss in.

 

[Devizier]

I was mostly pissed about the mental image of a bare-assed SOSHer.

 

[simplyeric]

from that interview which they just talked about on FS1

 
 
football was the only thing he loved to do

 
 
This is going up in the "sqaundered potential" thread, top 5 no doubt!

 

[H78]

Are they genuine Cheerios or the store brand knock off? That'll help me decide whether H78 is an overprivileged asshole. Even kids in hospitals with terminal diseases eat real Cheerios.

 
If I'm between paychecks I'm not above Hoopios

 

[H78]

I was mostly pissed about the mental image of a bare-assed SOSHer.

 
Have you not seen the posting from the toilet thread?! Sitting around bare-assed eating Cheerios is mere B+ work.

 

[steveluck7]

Is it a leather couch? If so, that could get rather uncomfortable on the bare ass. On the other hand, you have a sweet leather couch so you got that goin for ya

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

...which is nice.

 

[H78]

Unfortunately I have a pleather futon. So it gets uncomfortable and I'm reminded that I'm poor.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

Apparently you didn't get me the FIRST TIME!

 

[Dewy4PrezII]

Apparently you didn't get me the FIRST TIME!

No, he, like everyone else, pays you no mind. 

 

[FL4WL3SS]

 

[ivanvamp]

This today in MMQB:
 
“In all my years of competitive sports, I have never seen someone as competitive. He plays to destroy you.”
—New England cornerback Darrelle Revis, to Jim Corbett of USA Today, on Tom Brady.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

He looked like absolute garbage in the first half.
 
I think he tends to get a little over-confident (a spotless five game performance will dot that) and when he does that he starts to try and squeeze balls and make low percentage throws, which was happening in the first half. Luckily, he got his head out of his ass in the second half, but that first half was concerning. He's also lucky that the Colts had no prayer stopping the run.
 
Great second half performance though; it was surgical.

 

[Myt1]

I think the pressure got to him a bit, too.  Probably actually good for him to have a game like that to calm him down a bit.

 

[steveluck7]

On the 2nd INT, the audible was called but it looked like the protection wasn't adjusted. If you look from the end zone view, the entire O-line looks like they're run blocking at the snap so it's kind of easy to see how someone got through so easily. I don't know if that was by design or if someone on the line missed the adjustment

 

[bradmahn]

Yeah, I think too much is being made of that second INT. Granted, it was a terrible decision to throw the ball, but the audible looks like the right call when Gronk is wide open down the sideline. With a good throw, that's at least a 25 yard pick up.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

But the audible was completely unnecessary. Indianapolis couldn't stop the run and the Patriots get the ball back in the second half. Even if he does make that audible, taking a sack there isn't the worst thing in the world. He got over-confident and tried to make the hero play and it bit him in the ass.
 
In retrospect, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to the Patriots. Brady came out in the second half taking what the defense gave him and they were able to run over the Colts.
 
EDIT: Also, the defense was playing a fantastic game. Punting there wouldn't have been terrible.

 

[tims4wins]

Every once in a while Brady has a horrible half. And generally speaking, he follows those bad halves with awesome ones. I even texted a friend at halftime last night and said something along the lines of, it sucked that we gave up the TD to only be up 14-10, but I'm holding out hope that we will be ok because Brady rarely plays two bad halves.
 
He was 10-19 for 84 yards and 2 picks in the first half.
 
He was 9-11 for 173 yards and 2 TDs in the second half. Surgical.

 

[Van Everyman]

Said this on another thread but I think it's relevant here:

Brady said after the game that "no look throws" never end well. He saw how open Gronk was going to be at the line which is why he audibled the play. He then dropped back looking backwards (think it was a play action) and in one motion turned around and threw it – entirely unaware that a guy was right in his face.

So the mistake wasn't the audible (which a lot of people killed him for in the game thread) or throw exactly. It was the decision the throw based almost entirely on the matchup he saw at the LOS, not the on the play as it developed.

 

[Stitch01]

It was a terrible decision to throw the pass to Gronk, but given how rarely Brady makes that sort of game management mistake we can basically just ignore it IMO.  Wasn't his sharpest game, but he was really on point in the second half and continued to look great moving within the pocket.

 

[Super Nomario]

On the 2nd INT, the audible was called but it looked like the protection wasn't adjusted. If you look from the end zone view, the entire O-line looks like they're run blocking at the snap so it's kind of easy to see how someone got through so easily. I don't know if that was by design or if someone on the line missed the adjustment

On play action, the OL usually run blocks, at least most of them. It's part of the deception, because the LBs typically key off the OL to determine run / pass. But sometimes you end up with free rushers because of that - that happened on PA a few times in the first half, including on both INTs.

 

[MalzoneExpress]

Every once in a while Brady has a horrible half. And generally speaking, he follows those bad halves with awesome ones. I even texted a friend at halftime last night and said something along the lines of, it sucked that we gave up the TD to only be up 14-10, but I'm holding out hope that we will be ok because Brady rarely plays two bad halves.
 
He was 10-19 for 84 yards and 2 picks in the first half.
 
He was 9-11 for 173 yards and 2 TDs in the second half. Surgical.

 
First half - Weedonesque
Second Half - Bradyesque
 
I'm glad he found himself at the half.

 

[Tony C]

It was a terrible decision to throw the pass to Gronk, but given how rarely Brady makes that sort of game management mistake we can basically just ignore it IMO.  Wasn't his sharpest game, but he was really on point in the second half and continued to look great moving within the pocket.

 
Yeah, exactly. Yes it was Mark Sanchez/Geno Smith level bad/stupid. But it was an outlier, not part of a pattern.

 

[lithos2003]

 
First half - Weedonesque
Second Half - Bradyesque
 
I'm glad he found himself at the half.

 
Maybe Belichick gave him a snickers bar at halftime?

 

[m0ckduck]

To me, it just seemed that he generally lacked feel for the touch/finesse passes last night (and egregiously so) but was fine on his usual bread-and-butter on-a-line stuff. And that he made a conscious decision to stop being cute after the pick at the end of the half given that Indy couldn't stop the run or the tight passes. Iow, it seemed to be as much about the pass type as anything else.

 

[m0ckduck]

I'm gonna set an alarm on my phone for that time each night to remind myself that while I'm sitting alone and bare-assed on the couch of my shitty apartment eating Cheerios and drinking shitty beer and watching shitty Nerflix documentaries I can take solace in knowing Tom Brady is fucking the hottest super model in the world in their $40,000/mo apartment before he wakes up 8 or 9 hours later refreshed and hangoverless and gets to play NFL football for Bill Belichick.

Life...not fair.

Don't forget that he goes to bed at 8:30 every night. Having to maintain the same bedtime schedule as my five year-old son mitigates it a lot in my eyes.