Giants' Pat Shurmur wakes up 'Sleeping Brady,' pays dearly for it

FOXBOROUGH – When are NFL coaches going to learn? It's been 20 years, six Super Bowl titles, 243 wins and roughly 41 miles passing.

Yet, without fail, some opposing coach tests Tom Brady and winds up absorbing a TB12 beatdown.

Here was New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur – career-win total of 14 – in a game on the road at the undefeated Super Bowl champs, somehow tied at 14-14, and he decides to play “truth or dare” with Tom Brady, the GOAT, the legend, the greatest athlete in sports history.

Third-and-6 at the New England 41 with 2:40 left in the first half, Shurmur dared Brady to make a play, calling a timeout.

He couldn't just try and let the half run out at 14 apiece. Brady was stuck in second gear, his offense bucking like a 1988 Olds Cutlass with 140,000 miles on it.

Yet Shurmur was feeling frisky. Well, Brady accepted the dare, hooking up with James White for 8 yards and a first down, then spent the rest of the night explaining to Shurmur and the Giants exactly who is “the Truth” (Sorry, Paul Pierce).

According to more than one Patriot in the victorious locker room, Brady didn't make any statements.

His history is littered with overmatched NFL coaches who have insisted on giving him extra shots or extra time with their game mismanagement. Heck, Houston's Bill O'Brien has written a chapter on it by himself.

Brady just popped the clutch and coasted to the easy win.

“He's a phenomenal leader, second now in all-time passing yards,” was about all that could be coaxed from center Ted Karras, who noted “I didn't even notice (that timeout).”

The brutal New York media peppered Shurmur postgame with 13 questions. None bothered to broach the subject as to why anyone, who has watched the Patriots at least once since Mo Lewis KO'd Drew Bledsoe back in September of 2001, would want to give Brady more time and more chances to score.

If you don't think Brady, a competitor like no other noticed, you're missing a great one.

Check the numbers.

Before the timeout, TB12 was on his way to another head-scratcher, 11 for 18 for 124 yards with a lost fumble and an interception. His QB rating at the time was 58.6 and his average yards per throw was 6.9.

After the Shurmur gaffe?

Brady was a tidy 20 for 23, good for 210 yards, a 104.7 rating and 9.1 yards per attempt – with 21 unanswered points.

Oh yeah, and he was 6-for-6 and 50 yards on that last possession before the half, leading to his own 1-yard plunge into the end zone for the 21-14 lead.

Might it have happened without the timeout? Sure. But the line between mediocre Brady and the greatest ever just happened to be the Shurmur timeout that said, “Hey Tom, we don't think you can convert a third-and-6.”

You just know savvy vets like White and Julian Edelman took it personally, too.

The beauty of it will be lost in the fact that Edelman (nine catches, 113 yards) took another absolute physical pounding, Josh Gordon left with a banged-up knee in the first half and Brady posted those sparkling numbers with an offense that featured Ryan Izzo, Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski.

"We got kind of forced into one (offensive personnel) grouping there in the second half. I don't think that's ever happened in 20 years,” Brady said.

Not once. Not even in the days of Doug Gabriel, Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell.

But with TB12 ignited by Shurmur's perceived slight or sheer stupidity, the Giants never stood a chance.