Tom Brady on offensive woes: 'It's no way to play football'

Tom Brady bottom lined things after the game.

“It’s no way to play football,” the quarterback said following a very ugly 26-10 loss to the Lions Sunday night in Detroit.

You can say that again.


For the second straight week, the New England offense — led by Brady — failed to score a touchdown in the first half. There was zero offensive rhythm over the first two quarters for the Patriots, who dug themselves a 13-0 deficit in the early going and were unable to escape on the way to their second straight loss.

New England had three straight 3-and-outs to start the game, setting the tone for another frustrating night where the only touchdown came in the third quarter, a 10-yard scoring strike to James White. But other than that, it was pretty much miserable. The Patriots were 2-for-9 on third down. They averaged 1.9 yards per carry in the first half. (The rushing numbers were inflated in the second half, as the Lions were playing more nickel and willing to trade clock for yards at that point.) They didn’t cross into Detroit territory until there was just over two minutes left in the first second quarter. And when they did, they had to settle for a field goal after misfiring on third down.

Brady, who ended up 14-for-26 for 133 yards with one touchdown and one interception, said the offense is simply in a bad place right now.

“We’re not scoring enough points. We’re not executing well enough on a down-by-down basis. Certainly at a high level, (where) we should have our expectations set,” he said. “The process has been the same. There’s been a lot of talk about it in practice, and we’re going through it and watching the film and correcting stuff. It’s just not getting done on the field. And we have to get it corrected soon.”

There could be help on the way in the form of Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman. It looked like Gordon was a game-time decision, as the new receiver ended up sitting. Meanwhile, Edelman will return from his PED suspension following the Week 4 game against the Dolphins.

Until then, however, he’ll have to rely on a group that includes tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was held mostly in check Sunday by the Lions.

“They covered (Gronkowski) pretty well,” Brady said of Gronkowski, who had four catches for 51 yards but was a nonfactor in a lot of key moments. “We just didn’t get the job done. It wasn’t like they reinvented the defense out there, it was really just us not doing a good job of anything. Run game, pass game, we didn’t do enough to advance the ball forward.”

Brady has suffered through some ugly early-season losses before, only to be the Last Man Standing at the end of the year. But he knows it’s going to take a lot to get to that spot in 2018, especially considering where things are right now for the New England offense.

“We’re just not doing anything well enough,” he said.