The dismal state of the Patriots offense has been a big topic of conversation this week after they crashed and burned against the Chiefs on Monday night.
Quarterback Tom Brady has been in the middle of that discussion as people wonder whether he’s close to the end of his long run as the main man in New England. According to a report from Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Brady isn’t thrilled with the direction the team has taken recently.
Per Mortensen, Brady is “uncomfortable” with some of the changes to personnel and the coaching staff and that he has seen his level of input into the offense -- things like game planning, pre-snap adjustments and personnel packages -- drop of late. There’s no question that the Patriots have failed to find receivers talented enough to help Brady over the last couple of years and their offensive line, which saw guard Logan Mankins depart in a trade just before the start of the season, has been a mess this year, the first without the now-retired Dante Scarnecchia coaching the group. The shortcomings in those two groups come after the Pats used a second-round pick to take a backup quarterback a few years after doing the same with a third-round selection.
Former Patriot Tommy Kelly has raised the question of whether the Patriots are making decisions based on what’s best for football or what’s best for the pocketbook, something that could be read into Mortensen’s report as well. That trajectory could mean that Brady will follow in the footsteps of Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and Joe Montana and end his career somewhere else, something that probably should have never seemed as impossible as it did for most of Brady’s career.
