Bedard's Daily Briefing 12.13.18: Brady's health, Kyrie goes off, BSJ member deal on gifts

Good morning!

A few random thoughts while I wonder what DC suburbs Kyrie Irving was nailing shots from last night ...

• My biggest takeaway from Sunday's game was not the flukey final play but Tom Brady's health. No breaking news that if Brady isn't healthy, the Patriots don't have much of a chance. But this is a little different.


• The Patriots' passing offense has not been as good as last season. You can either acknowledge that fact, or you can be a truther about it try to bend all sorts of numbers to execute your point. It just hasn't.


• To this point, I thought most of the issues came from all the personnel issues this season and Brady's lack of confidence in it as a result. But what happened Sunday changed my mind.


• The offensive personnel was the same from the first to the second half. The Dolphins' defense was still the same sucky defense in both halves. Yet the Patriots' offense, especially the pass part of it, fell off a cliff. So it had to be Brady.


• If it was Brady, that means that either a) he came into this season unprepared and it has carried over, b) he's feeling his age and the decline has started, or c) he's been hurt all season and how much it limits him comes and goes.


• With Sunday's context, I'm going with C. And that game showed us these Patriots aren't going very far unless Brady is 100 percent, like he was for most of the first half.


• Kyrie Irving was just ridiculous last night. That was a fun one to watch.


• Marcus Smart is really showing his value ... and he should never be removed from the starting lineup.


• Sometimes I think Dave Dombrowski just lives in an alternate reality ... his own. It was mockable until last season. Now I just have to shut up.


• The Sox are against changing the rules about the shift. This is the least shocking news ever. #NerdSox Please ban the shift.


• ATTENTION BSJ MEMBERS: Your gift special is now operational. Thanks for spreading the word!