In The Red Zone

I think it’s time to ask the question no one ever wants to hear.  What’s wrong with Tom Brady?  Yesterday he was probably the most inaccurate I have seen him since he became a starter in 2001.  If he has been more off target than he was at times in the first 45 minutes of Sunday’s game I don’t recall it.

It wasn’t just this week either; this is the third week in a row that the offense has been mediocre and Brady as its leader is the one to questioned.

I refuse to believe that every missed pass New England has is the result of a bad route run by a receiver, the fact that Chad Ochocinco is on the field, poor protection or that the officials missed a call.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald on his Twitter account wrote, “of Tom Brady’s 21 incompletions, 1 judged 7 to be poor throws. Another 7 were were batted by Giants due to poor reads/judgement”.

Face fact’s, on Sunday Cooper Manning, the third non-football playing son of Archie, could have beaten the Patriots with the way Brady executed his offense.

Granted it’s not all on one person.  The offensive line was atrocious on Sunday as well, especially T Matt Light.  Every time I looked up, Light was being bull rushed, pushed around, thrown to the ground and beaten down by Giants DE Osi Umenyiora that led to Brady being hurried, hit and sacked by Umenyiora and/or a plethora of other Giants players.

Light, though, wasn’t the only one as C Dan Connolly at times was severely mismatched and the line on the whole failed to give Brady the time he needed to throw.

All I know is the Patriots defense kept them in the game Sunday.  And it’s time to face some more facts, that isn’t going to happen often so, New England needs to straighten out the mess with offense and soon or they will be looking up at the Jets and Bills come playoff time.

To continue reading, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

This is what Brady himself had to say about Sunday on WEEI AM/FM on Monday morning.

Belichick had his weekly Monday media meeting about the week ahead.

LB Dan Fletcher missed his second game with a thumb injury while S Josh Barrett returned to action after missing three games with hamstring and thumb issues.  RB Kevin Faulk who returned against Pittsburgh from the PUP list was inactive with a sore knee.  He had played a lot of snaps against the Steelers and probably was feeling it a little bit, while WR Taylor Price (hamstring) and DE Shaun Ellis (ribs) were also scratched with injuries.  LB Jermaine Cunningham, G Donald Thomas and QB Ryan Mallett were healthy scratches.  Mallett has been scratched 7 times in 8 games, while Cunningham and Thomas were out for the second week in a row.

LB Brandon Spikes hurt his knee in the 2nd quarter and didn’t return now ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Spikes has a sprained MCL and is week to week.

LB Gary Guyton suffered a stinger that put LB Tracy White on the field who was caught cheating run on game winning TD.

Looks like there was a sideline incident in the 3rd quarter with Albert Haynesworth and line coach Pepper Johnson on Sunday.  Apparently Johnson and Bill Belichick were upset with something Haynesworth did or didn’t do on the field and there were words exchanged between at least Johnson and Haynesworth if not Belichick as well.

Haynesworth did not play much in the final quarter.  Belichick say’s the situation was rotational.  Turns out Haynesworth didn’t play at all after the reported incident.

ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi dissects the Patriots loss to the Giants on Sunday.

Receptions for Ochocinco? Nada.  He went oh for Ochocinco.

Sunday’s loss snapped a few streaks: Patriots had won 20 consecutive regular season games at Gillette Stadium.  Tom Brady had won his last 31 starts at Gillette and the Patriots had won 18 games in a row at home against NFC opponents.

Chad Ochocinco’s post game comments via the Rap Sheet Blog.

The Herald’s Ron Borges says the Patriots best is no longer enough

S Sergio Brown was surprised by pass interference penalty on the final New York drive.

Until Sunday the Patriots had never lost to the Giants in the regular season since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994.

Brady and Belichick will have to wait another week to try for win number 117 as a QB-Coach combination.  They currently share the record of 116 wins with Dan Marino and Don Shula.

UMass product WR Victor Cruz was in control on Sunday.

Tom Brady may need counseling he appears to have trust issues.

A look at the Big 4 on special teams who as a unit are struggling.

And in the fourth, the defense rests.

Sunday’s game between the Giants and Patriots was first NFL game to be scoreless at the half in the 2011 season.

The pointless effort adds to losses.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss has the offensive and the defensive snaps for the Patriots.

This time the problem pointed to the offense.

This was the third time this season New England has had a four turnover game (Week 3 at Buffalo, Week 6 vs. Dallas and Week 9 vs. NY Giants) they are 1-2 in those games.

Breaking down the Giants final drive play by play.

The Patriots 3 Up, 3 Down in the loss to the Giants.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

New England plays the New York Jets on Sunday at 8:20 p.m. at Met Life Stadium in the Meadowlands.  Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem