Tom Brady is a perfectionist - everyone knows it, and he doesn't deny it. He works for a micromanaging perfectionist in Bill Belichick whose sole purposes in life are to stomp his adversaries and to make the beat writers look foolish at the same time...
...so his mentor and his influence are part of his psychological make up - because Belichick far favors dependability over ability, though there has to be that present as well, and he has a tendency to shelve players who have shown reason to question their dependability, such as fumbling the ball and dropping Brady's throws.
Far from a narcissist, Brady instead apparently suffers from an affliction called Atychiphobia, or the fear of failure - and it manifested itself in the first quarter of Sunday's win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
What happens to the tormented is that they hesitate to pull the trigger on something that has failed in the past, telegraphing their intentions and locking on to their desired target. In the case of Brady, it offered some curious throws when he did let some off the chain, throwing low in the middle of the field and too long on the deep ball.
The cure? Well, we saw that at the start of the second quarter when Brady suddenly remembered that he was Tom-freaking-Brady and went after the Buccaneers' secondary - targeting his receivers on Revis Island, and the startled inhabitants had no answer for him.
And with the way the defense was playing and the way the Buccaneers were bumbling and stumbling, Brady didn't have to be great - and he wasn't - but whatever it really is that is limiting him, be it psychological or as part of the game plan, Brady found the antidote.
Passing game: B
Rookie nerves. Not for Aaron Dobson or Kenbrell Thompkins, but for quarterback Tom Brady as he seemed to be telegraphing his throws in the 1st quarter, holding onto the ball way too long and either not seeing or completely ignoring wide open receivers in favor of...what? Playing it safe, maybe?
Once Brandon Bolden eased his fears by taking a few short tosses for decent gains, Brady threw caution to the wind - and the ball into the wind as well - finding Aaron Dobson with a fastball that he was able to hang onto, and just like that, the Patriots' offense started clicking.
He left some points on the field for sure, but this performance was nothing like the face-melting disaster in the Jets' game 10 days earlier, where Brady left the field in a sputtering rage more than once - on Sunday, Brady sulked a bit on the sidelines after a couple of his faux pas throws, but didn't come close to the previous display.
And when he did go after the Buccaneers' secondary, there were flashes of the greatest of all time.
The offensive line provided decent protection after a first quarter that saw the entire offense struggle as a whole, and while the running backs were having a particularly difficult time getting things moving, they still put up a good fight in protecting Brady - especially Stevan Ridley, which speaks to his desire to contribute despite being limited in the running game.
Bolden was key and his performance was more of by design for the role of passing back than anything to do with a particular skill set - and with Vereen being out until after Halloween, Bolden will certainly be given every opportunity to grow into the role. Given good health for both, imagine the possibilities when Vereen does come back...
Dobson and Thompkins are also growing into their roles, one that has been made markedly more difficult than it should have been, with the injuries to Gronkowski, Vereen and Danny Amendola, but one can't help but think that being thrown right into the fire and being successful will help their progression by leaps and bounds.
Running Game: B-
Were it not for the power running game erasing nearly five minutes off the clock to close out the game, this grade would be much lower.
Bolden was the star of this group in returning from a knee injury suffered in the preseason, which really isn't saying that much, because despite the fact that the Patriots rushed for 156 yards, 102 of those came in lump sums - 46 on a beautiful explosion through the crease on the right side by Bolden and 56 more in an eight carry series in the four minute offense to salt the game away.
Other than that, the running game was a stagnant 2.25 yards per carry. To the credit of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, he didn't abandon the running game when it wasn't working against one of the top run defenses in the NFL, just replaced the one-dimensional Ridley with Bolden, whose value in the passing game made him a more difficult matchup for the defense.
Ridley has had a tough start to 2013, as the running game isn't the same without tight end Rob Gronkowski throwing his considerable bulk around - and it's a little disconcerting that Ridley has not been able to consistently generate through small creases, though his blocking protecting Brady in the pocket is to be commended.
The left side of the offensive line flexed their muscles on that final drive, tight ends Matthew Mulligan, Michael Hoomanawanui and fullback James Develin joining the party and completely dominating the worn down Buccaneers for a sick seven yards per carry average for Blount on the drive.
Hopefully the Patriots have found something with that alignment to promote the running game, but a Gronkowski return and the health of right tackle Sebastian Vollmer, who left the game with what is being classified as a sprained foot - whatever that means - is key to a powerful running game going forward.
Special teams: A
Did anyone else get all weepy seeing Gostkowski nailing that 53 yard field just before the half? That was prettier than a new set of snow tires - and we all know the emotions that those thing elicit, particularly in the dead of a New England winter...
...We have all come to expect him to send most of his kickoffs out of the end zone, and you really can't improve upon what he's done in that regard - so it seems that the man with the best success rate for field goals in franchise history has gotten over his case of the yips and is back to being Mr. Reliable.
Rookie Punter Ryan Allen actually has a better average gross punt and net punt average than the man he replaced, but that's all relative to situation and field percentage. He's gotten lots of practice while the Patriots' offense has been trying to find traction - but hopefully his reps will reduce to a nominal number soon.
Duron Harmon capably replaced the injured Matthew Slater as the gunner on punts, while Bolden handled the fullback duties on kick returns - of course, no one can perform those jobs better than Slater, pro bowl special teamer that he is, but the dropoff between he and those two was negligible in this contest.
Rush Defense: B-
After the New York Jets game nearly two weeks ago, Patriots' fans were lamenting the "soft" run defense against a middling rush offense - a game that the Jets would have won had they not abandoned their gouging running game in favor of Geno Smith's arm.
The Buccaneers did the same thing - but unlike the Jets they had little choice, giving the rock to Doug Martin just five times after he had averaged nearly five yards a pop in the opening half
Martin enjoyed early success, and the Buccaneers' interior run blocking was outstanding initially. For the second game in a row the Patriots' normally stout run defense was manhandled as Martin was rarely touched before reaching the second level - but the miscues in the Buccaneers' passing game wasted his effort and rendered him a side show as the Patriots' defensive line grew stronger as the game evolved.
Of his 88 rushing yards, just 18 came after the break and with linebacker Dont'a Hightower dogging his every move both on the ground and in the pattern, the Tampa Bay rushing game was ineffective when it really needed to be.
Going forward, Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia are going to have to identify a concept that can limit the opposition's running game - such as playing more man coverages on the outside and not letting the opposition dictate how many men the Patriots leave in the box.
In the past the Patriots' prolific offense was the defense's best friend, as most teams were forced to go to the air to keep up with Brady's arm, but as we've seen in the early stages of the season with the struggles that the offense has endured, it has exposed the rush defense to a degree.
But as it is with the offense, these early struggles will pay dividends later in the season. Better to be able to identify the rush defense for what it is early than to get exposed in the playoffs - and if we know anything about Bill Belichick, it's that he will make his adjustments and force the opposing offenses to try and beat him another way.
Pass Defense: B
As enamored as most are with the play of the secondary, it has to be remembered that were it not for a case of butterfingers amongst the Tampa Bay receivers, the game may have been much different - not necessarily different in the win column, but statistically and on the scoreboard.
That said, the New England pass defenders also featured some outstanding man coverage - but with the quality of the Tampa Bay receivers, there were some heavyweight battles happening along the sidelines and both sides got their licks in. The Patriots' corners stayed aggressive the entire game.
Kyle Arrington had his worst outing of the young season, replaced by Alfonzo Dennard on the outside after a bad pass interference penalty, and then benched completely in favor of rookie Logan Ryan in the nickle. It's unclear if Arrington was dealing with an injury or if he was just off his game, but one thing that has always been clear is that Dennard is the better option on the outside.
Ryan had his moments as did Dennard, and it will be interesting to see how Belichick handles Arrington and the secondary going forward, especially facing teams with multiple outside weapons such as the Bucs, Falcons, Saints, etc.
Defending the pass is inherently a crap shoot to begin with, but there are several variables that can swing the advantage to the defense - the most important of which is the quality and ferocity of the pass rush, and when the Patriots came out for the second half up by a score of 17-3, they pinned their ears back and went after Tampa quarterback Josh Freeman.
With the Buccaneers trying to play catch up with their best receiver nursing his sore ribs on the sideline, the combination of Chandler Jones and Tommy Kelly began to find their groove and were a constant presence in Freeman's face rushing from the inside from the second quarter on.
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