Texans defensive end Antonio Smith had a solid point with his accusations of cheating against the Patriots after his team's 34-31 loss on Sunday.
It does seem fishy that the Patriots play so poorly in the 1st half then come out firing on all cylinders in the second half. It does seem fishy that every time their backs are completely against the wall, they play their way back into the games and at worst, lose by single digits. Foul play must be involved right? Such consistent major comebacks have to be because of filming or some other type of inside insight? As hard as it is to comprehend, that's just how this team operates. No one knows why and it surely doesn't make any sense how a team frequently can go from sluggish to completely dominant in the course of a single game, but that's the way things are in New England.
If you look at the 2013 New England Patriots, it's nothing short of a miracle that they are 9-3. Tom Brady has the weakest supporting cast around him during his entire 13-year tenure with the team. It has been said countless numbers of times, but the receiving corps is a huge step back from what they've had in years past. Going from having multiple elite options for so many years in a row to only having 1 (Rob Gronkowski) is a huge blow for a team to take. Prior to Gronkowski's return, it was downright painful to watch their receivers operate. Rookies Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins made some plays, but were dropping passes left and right, Danny Amendola gets hurt right out of the gate and Julian Edelman, while displaying solid hands and sharp route-running, got brought down as soon as he caught the ball. Things have gotten better since Gronkowski returned, but none of the receivers aside from Edelman, have been anywhere near consistent all season.
Defensively it's somehow even more bleak. Outside of a solid pass rush led by second-year defensive end Chandler Jones and grinding veteran Rob Ninkovich, this is a unit that has shown pratically no signs of life this season. The two anchors of the unit, nose tackle Vince Wilfork and outside linebacker Jerod Mayo, are out for the season. The run defense, who ranked 9th in the league last year, has suffered considerably without Wilfork and Mayo in the lineup. The unit is now ranked 31st in the league and is geting absolutely manhandled every week. As an indicator for just how poor their rush defense is look at their performance against the Texans last week: The team allowed 4 rushing touchdowns to a Texans team who had only put up 2 rushing touchdowns in the first 11 games of the season. The most alarming part of this is that they really haven't faced an elite running back all season. The carnage a guy like Marshawn Lynch, Adrian Peterson or LeSean McCoy could put up on this depleted run defense is truly horrifying to think about.
The passing defense intially began the season as a very efficient, if not borderline dominant unit, but has since become vulenarable due to a wide-sweeping injury problem. Cornerback Aqib Talib- who is easily the most gifted defensive back the Patriots have- is battling a hip injury that has slowed him down considerably and taken away his early-season dominance against top-flight receivers. Injuries have also slowed down cornerback Kyle Arrington and safety Steve Gregory and kept other starting corner Alfonzo Dennard out of the lineup for the past few games. Veteran safety Devin McCoruty has looked good all year and rookies Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon are playing hard, but they aren't exactly striking fear in their opponents.
So with all the problems the team has how are they staying afloat? The answer to that question is simple: Tom Brady. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Nick Foles have been the most dominant quarterbacks statistically this year, but realistically Brady should be the MVP of 2013 because of what he's been able to do with the team that's surrounding him. His leadership and ability to get the most out of his players- regardless of the talent level or situation that is presented is the sole reason this team is doing so well. Bill Belichick is an undeniably brilliant coach, but even he couldn't do anything with the current roster if Brady wasn't at the helm. This isn't the 2008 team where the strength of the supporting cast could still win games without Brady. The 2013 Patriots would be hanging out with the Bills at the bottom of the AFC East if Brady was out this season.
The most amazing thing about Brady this year is that his numbers haven't been that impressive for much of the year (he has heated up over the past month though.) He's been recovering from poor starts and grinding out victories by making plays when it matters most.
The Broncos game is a prime example of the damage Brady has been doing this season. Brady and his offensive cohorts came out and played as bad of a first half as you can play in the game of football. The second half they were more polished and dominant than they had looked all season. Brady capitalized on his opportunities and led the team downfield with ease each time he was given the ball in the second half. It honestly wasn't fair watching Brady pick apart a defense with such ease especially when the same defense had obliterated him in the previous half. Brady coming through in big situations and leading comebacks is nothing new, its just more impressive this season given that he doesn't have a barrage of weapons to go to when a big play needs to be made.
Brady has also done a tremendous job adjusting to receiving more pressure when it arrives. Injuries/age on the offensive line has forced the usually elite offensive line of the Patriots to allow more pass-rushers to get to Brady. In the past, Brady got rattled as soon as he got a hit few times. This season, he's been able to survive games where he is getting pressured and hit. The Saints and Dolphins both got to Brady repeatedly and he led the team to comeback wins in both of those games. There are still times where Brady gets flustered when hit, but he has greatly improved his poise after taking shots from defenders. Brady, more than ever, is the ring leader of this offense and his command and patience this season has been nothing short of astonishing. 2013 year may not be a career year for Brady, but I can say with complete confidence that I've never been more impressed with his play.
Another key factor in the 2013 Patriots success is their defense stepping up when it needs to. As I stated earlier, this is not a scary defense. You can run all over them and now thanks to injuries, you can throw on them too. That being said, it seems like they almost always make a play when they need to. This is a defense that has gotten a takeaway in all but 1 game this season (The Panthers snapped the Patriots streak of 36 straight games with a takeaway.) Their 4 takeaways in the second half of the Broncos game was the catalyst for the offense to put up the onslaught of points that they did in the second half. The same thing happened against the Dolphins in October. The offense looked horrific in the first half and with the Dolphins in complete control and starting the second half with the ball, the defense needed to make a play to make sure things didn't get out of the hand. On the second play of the drive, Rob Ninkovich stripped quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the Patriots punched in a touchdown on the ensuing possession that started a comeback that led to a 27-17 victory. This defense is far from elite from a talent standpoint, but they are certainly opportunistic and that's just as, if not more important than having a stout defense.
The Patriots may not be a force on-paper, but if you watch them play you'll see why they are such a scary team. It's not always about impressive stats in football. Coming through in the clutch and having tenacity are essential to succeed in the NFL and the Patriots have both of those in spades. With their favorable schedule in the last 4 weeks, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the Patriots clinch homefield advantage. Wherever the Patriots land in the chaos of playoff seeding, it should be interesting to see just how far this magical and seemingly unflappable 2013 Patriots team will go. No one knows how the Patriots magic works, they just know that it does work regardless of the circumstances.
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