Tom Brady does not sound like a quarterback confident his team is set for a turnaround.
Brady talked about the Patriots’ offensive struggles this season and said the concerns go far beyond what happened in a 41-14 dismantling by the Chiefs on Monday night.
“There’s no magic play, there’s no magic scheme. It’s us as players playing a lot better than we’re playing,” Brady said Wednesday morning in his weekly spot on WEEI.
“This hasn’t been an isolated incident. I don’t think offensively we’ve played well all year. I don’t think we’ve played well for a long time. We’ve got to figure out the reasons why we’re not playing as well as we’re capable and try to improve them.”
The Patriots are averaging under 300 yards a game and Brady is the 29th-highest-rated quarterback in the NFL, in between the benched EJ Manuel and Raiders rookie Derek Carr.
“It’s all of us,” Brady said. “It’s not just the skill group, the line, it’s the quarterback, tight ends, receivers, backs, offense, defense — it’s a team sport. We all complement one another. Like I said, if we don’t do well offensively, yeah, then the defense is on the field. When we play from behind like we’ve played from behind the last four weeks, it usually doesn’t go very well for teams.
“We’ve got to do a better job getting ahead, staying ahead, so we can stay balanced, we can have our full complement of our offense, we don’t stress our pass game too much, we don’t stress the protections, the defense has more of an opportunity to play and make the calls they want — it all ties together. I don’t think in any phase of the game we’re playing the way we need to play in order to compete at a high level week in and week out.”
While Brady opened up about the Patriots’ problems, Bill Belichick kept repeating “we are on to Cincinnati” when questioned at his weekly press conference. The pair have overcome uninspired starts before, but usually end up on top of the AFC East.
“Well, I can play better,” Brady said. “I think that’s how I would grade it. There’s decisions and things I need to do a better job of. I don’t grade myself. But I know I can play better than the way I’m playing.”