With a season of high expectations melting into a “can’t win a road game in the United States” clusterfudge for the Patriots, quarterback Tom Brady is taking the bull by the horns -- by publicly kicking it in the balls.
Brady called out his teammates in post-game comments to the media on Sunday, after leads of 14-0 and 21-10 became a 22-21 loss to the Dolphins in Miami.
“I think we’ve got to find a way to play better football for 60 minutes, in all phases, and everyone has got to focus on what they need to do better,” Brady said, per Shalise Manza Young of the Providence Journal. “I think that’s the most important thing: being mentally tough to overcome adversity. When things don’t go your way, you have to fight back. That’s a challenge for all of us. I think at times we do, and at times I don’t think we fight very hard.
“We have leads in the second half and leads in the fourth quarter and we’re just not closing the game out when we have the opportunity to.”
His assessment is accurate, but it’s not the kind of thing a quarterback should be saying from behind a podium. It’s a message he needs to be delivering in the locker room, on the sidelines, and/or in the huddle.
Then again, maybe Brady has been trying to do so all year, and maybe his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. If things don’t change, it’ll be interesting to see whether this dynamic makes him want to continue his career in New England after his contract expires following the 2010 season.
