Defense is playing its ass off. Offense... is treading water. Zappe is hitting his targets and his INT wasn't his fault, but it's clear we're taking no chances with him. Stevenson and Meyers are playing well. I expect more out of the rest of this WR core.
I actually don't mind at all. As we're seeing, to beat Detroit we probably don't need some elite QB performance. Even if it were Mac Jones or hell, even a Tom Brady in the past, they'd probably only need around 200 yards and no turnovers to get a win. Zappe has 1 INT unfortunately (not his fault), but he's probably going to get 200 yards passing unless they just run it all the 2nd half. Play it safe, don't get stupid.
People forget, even in the Brady dynasty years during the regular season there was always around 4-5 games where Brady would be "meh/average" and didn't do too much, but they didn't need to to beat bad teams like the Jets, etc. Just don't give up multiple turnovers or make brutal mistakes
Even more so before the 2007 season when Brady was pretty exclusively a game managing type QB.
Why do Patriots fans regurgitate this false narrative that Brady haters came up with? No, Brady wasn't just a game manager. He led the league in TDs in his second year, and was consistently in the top 5-10 for TDs every year before 2007.
Were you watching the games back then or are you just regurgitating stats?
Brady wasn't given complete control of the offense through those first Super Bowl years. Belichick put a huge emphasis on the running game and defense and called safe passing plays for Brady for the most part. Brady was there to not make mistakes.....not to dominate the game. That's pretty much the definition of a game manager.
Yes, but game manager sort of implies not good enough so you have to play that safe conservative style. Trent Dilfer's Super Bowl run with the Ravens is a pretty classic game manager type situation. Brady, though, was absolute money in the clutch. Patriots needed a game winning drive, Brady would deliver time and time again. He always had elite skill, the team just didn't play in a way to maximize it because they did not need to play more aggressively to win. Once that dominate defense aged out, the talent on defense wasn't AS good, so they played more aggressively on offense and that is when Brady shed the game manager moniker, but Brady was never really a game manager in the classic sense of the definition. The Patriots were conservative, but not because Brady wasn't good enough, but just because that is who Bill is at heart.
As an example, the very first Super Bowl run.
Divisional Round - Pats down 3 with just over 2 minutes left. Brady leads them on game tying FG drive. 2 for 4, 20 yards, 2 runs 6 yards. Then in OT, Brady does not miss pass going 8 for 8 for 45 yards, also adding 2 yards rushing (Smith had some rushing yards)
AFC Championship - Brady goes out just before halftime with a 7-3 lead (they scored a TD on the drive he got hurt and went up 14-3)
Super Bowl - Brady comes back for the game and leads the Patriots on the game winning drive, in which Vinatieri hits the FG as time expires. In that drive, which started with 1 minute 37 seconds left and 0 timeouts, Brady goes 5 of 8 (but the 3 misses were all spikes I believe) for 57 yards. Absolute precision. That is not a game manager. That is guy that has always delivered in the clutch and the big moments.
