Tom Brady: We have to find ways to get everybody the ball
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The Patriots beat the Vikings on Sunday by a score of 30-7. But should the score have been higher?
While the defense did its part in producing four turnovers and a special teams chipped in with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, the offense seemed to stumble at times.
There could be many reasons for the offensive woes but what seems to be a key issue is Tom Brady trying to force the ball to only a couple of players. Mainly Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. Edelman has been very productive in the first two games, having logged 12 catches for 176 yards and one touchdown so far. But when Miami took him out of the equation during the second half, the Patriots offense ground to a screeching halt.
Pair that with Gronk not being at full speed yet and it leaves the offense at risk of being one dimensional and predictable.
BostonHerald
"Yeah, we’ve just got to find ways to get everybody the ball and spread it around to different guys,” Brady said. “We spread it around a little bit yesterday. (Amendola) didn’t get the ball as much as obviously I’d like to get it to him. Brandon LaFell, the same thing. Aaron Dobson had one catch to start the game and didn’t get a lot of other looks after that. We’ve got to get the ball to everybody and spread the ball around to everybody.
Brady understands he can't just keep throwing to those two. Yet it still seems to happen. This is the same Tom Brady that has always said it doesn't matter who his receivers are because he will just throw it to whoever is open.
So the question is who is to blame? Are the other receivers not capable of getting open? Are they running the wrong routes? Is it the play calling? Or is it on Brady?
It most likely a combination of all of the above. Which means its fixable. If Josh McDaniels starts calling plays that are better suited to each players strengths they will be more likely to get open. If they get open, Brady will throw them the ball. If Brady throws them the ball and they catch it, he will gain trust in them and he will no longer need to fall back on Edelman and Gronk as his only two trusted targets.
Belichick on Edelman getting the bulk of targets: "We could certainly stand to get a lot more balance in our attack, overall."
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 16, 2014
One thing is for certain, it doesn't matter how they fix the problem, it just needs to be fixed. Because if they don't, the second half against the Dolphins won't be the exception, it will be the rule.
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