"This team needs a great quarterback and, you know, hopefully, I can go out and be that."
— Tom Brady, Aug. 14.
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PITTSBURGH — That curious statement was said by QB1 in the middle of the heat in training camp on the back fields at Gillette Stadium.
When he uttered those words, coming off his third MVP season — at age 40, mind you — everyone kind of tilted their heads in a little bit of puzzlement.
Hey, you-ahh the GOAT ... ain't nobody got to worry about that, Tahmmeee. Ya hear me?
Nobody was quite sure what it meant. Was he saying that the personnel (which would include a turnstile of failed receivers and a tight end who wasn't sure if he wanted to play until April) wasn't that great and he needed to carry the team more than ever? (Maybe, and he wouldn't be wrong.)
Was he taking some sort of weird shot at Bill Belichick during the middle of the Namaste Cold War between Team Brady, Yoko Guerrero and the HC of the NEP? (Shrug)
Maybe he was stating a — duh — fact that, in today's NFL, it would kind of be in a team's best interest to have a fairly good passer of the pigskin?
Your guess was and is as good as any from the pundit class.
But, I'll say this, that quote has been swimming around in my oversized cranium the past four months.
Great quarterback. This team. Hopefully.
I'm still not sure what he meant, but maybe Brady was just predicting the future.
Because entering today's Week 15 showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers, this Patriots team needs a great quarterback right now, Brady hasn't been one all season, and he needs to stay right through Feb. 5.
If not, there's no Super Bowl in his team's future — playing in it, or winning it.
The Patriots needs MVP Brady to take up residence — and what better setting than a stadium and against a team he has ownership in — or this season is going to spin away like Brady on his atrocious throw to Chris Hogan last week in Miami.
Look, you can make all the excuses you want — he didn't have Julian Edelman for the first four games, Gronk hasn't been healthy, Josh Gordon hasn't been here that long, he ate a nightshade by mistake and it threw off his chi ... whatever — and lord knows I've been making them for him all season.
But the fact of the matter is Brady has not been great on a consistent basis this season and that is partially to blame for the Patriots being 9-4 (3-4 on the road) and being one loss away from playing on (gasp!) wild-card weekend.
And I'm sure you can pull out some statistics that say, "Since the moon was last in the last quarter phase on the first Tuesday of the month, Brady stats are the same as last season." And I can do the same with four other statistics to show Brady hasn't been on top of his game.
But besides the eye test and the fact that the Patriots are just sixth in points scored for the first time since, gulp, 2009, let's go with advanced analytics. FootballOutsiders.com has Brady ranked sixth in DYAR (Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement) and DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) this season.
Last season Brady was first and second.
Over at ProFootballFocus.com, the film analysts (who I don't always agree with) will be leaving Brady off their AFC Pro Bowl roster. "For the first time in a long time, the PFF Pro Bowl roster will be without Tom Brady," the film nerds said.
It's hard to dispute. Patrick Mahomes is a no-brainer, and so is Philip Rivers. So it's between Andrew Luck and Brady for the third spot.
Then add in the NFC and name the quarterback that have played the best this season. Drew Brees, Mahomes, Rivers ... and then you basically have a pick-your-flavor with Luck, Brady and Russell Wilson.
So Brady has gone from being the undisputed best quarterback to top 5-ish. Nothing to sneeze at. But probably not great to this point ... more like very good.
But all that can change this evening where the Monongahela, Ohio and Allegheny rivers meet.
We saw Brady's greatness last week for 26 glorious minutes. The Dolphins' defense may stink and their zone defense is like flag football to Brady, but that was vintage Brady (16 of 19, 213 yards, 3 touchdowns, 152.7 rating). He was looking off safeties, standing in against pressure, throwing before receivers were out of their breaks, and throwing darts down the field for touchdowns.
As if you needed further proof that he had been less-than Brady for much of this season, how many of you were downright giddy after that laser to Cordarrelle Patterson? Or the jump ball to Gronk?
The GOAT was back. Right in time for the playoff push.
But then ... he wasn't. Brady started ducking out of throws, forgot how many timeouts the team had left, leaving points on the board and went 11 of 24 for 146 yards to post a 65.6 rating as the Patriots folded down the stretch and likely any chance at being the AFC's top seed.
It sure looked like he was dealing with an injury, like the knee that has been bothering him all season, but then Brady went on the radio with Jim Gray and proclaimed himself to be some sort of perfectly running cyborg.
"My body feels great," said Brady, who is disbursing contact better than ever. "I am in the 14th week of the year and I would say I feel 100 percent. I go out to practice. I practice as hard as I can. I feel great. I am ready for the next day. I don’t feel any different from day-to-day."
So ... exactly why, then, was Brady average in the final 33 minutes — of a loss — when the Dolphins were same terrible defense and his weapons were unchanged during the course of the game?
Sorry, Tom, I'm not buying it. You were gun-shy in the pocket. So it's either you were hurt, afraid and/or showing your age. (I think Brady has something that comes and goes from game to game and even during it ... but he has TB12 to sell.)
Look, it doesn't even matter at this point. It's Week 15, there are three games left in the season and the Patriots haven't locked up anything yet.
The Patriots' defense is mediocre. The running game is hit and miss. No one's sure what you're going to get out of Gronkowski and Edelman on a weekly basis.
As with all things Patriots, it comes down to Brady.
A year ago he was the unquestioned MVP choice who went on to light up the Titans, Jaguars and Eagles in the postseason for a team that was one possession from another Super Bowl title.
If the Patriots are going to accomplish anything this season, they need that Brady back again. Not for 26 minutes — all 60, from here on out.
Tom was right, way back then.
This team needs a great quarterback and, you know, hopefully, he can go out and be that.
They have to have it.
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If you're in Pittsburgh for the game, come say hi to me, Chris Price and Adam Richins at the Starbucks at 808 Ridge Avenue near the stadium starting at Noon.