The New England Patriots came away with a hard-fought road win over a potential playoff team in Philadelphia on Sunday, but you never would have known it by the way Tom Brady acted after the game. Some have viewed that as selfishness from the six-time Super Bowl champion, but offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels insists it is not a concern.
During a conference call with the media on Tuesday, McDaniels was asked about Brady’s demeanor and open frustration with the Patriots offense following a 17-10 victory. He said that is an illustration of the 42-year-old’s “desire to be perfect in everything he does.
“When you don’t do as well as you’d like to do personally, or as a unit, you’re frustrated with your output. But at the same time, understanding in the big picture, our No. 1 goal, and the most important thing for all of us, is to contribute to wins,” McDaniels said, via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald. “I think there were many things the other day we did that helped contribute to that, and there were certainly things we did that we want to do better going forward.”
McDaniels pointed to the fact that there have been other times when the Patriots put up around 40 points and Brady still seems aggravated.
“I don’t ever take that as a negative,” the coach said. “I understand he wants to go out there and do what we all do, which is to put a lot of points on the board every week.”
The Patriots were terrible offensively in Philadelphia, but their defense continued to dominate like it has for much of the season. Brady and company managed to score only one touchdown and had continued struggles in the red zone, and the quarterback seemed irritated when he spoke with the media for less than two minutes following the game. When asked if he was discouraged despite the win and improving to 9-1, Brady said “we just played for three hours” and “I think everyone is a little tired.”
As WEEI’s Ryan Hannable notes, Brady made similar remarks after New England’s 16-10 win at Buffalo earlier in the season.
(1/2) Tom Brady: “The flight home sucked. The night of sleep sucked. You watch the film, and that sucks, and then you just lick your wounds, and you get up and you try to do better the next week."
"Well, we just played for three hours. I think everyone is a little tired."
— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) November 19, 2019
Brady is a perfectionist, and that is not going to change. That’s one of the main reasons he is the greatest quarterback of all time. Both he and Bill Belichick never seem fully satisfied until they’re hoisting the Lombardi trophy, and that mentality has served them well. There are going to be games when the defense needs the offense to pick up the slack, and Brady wants to be ready for those — even if he has essentially admitted there could be more issues going forward. A player holding himself to a high standard in both victory and defeat is not something that should be considered a problem.
