Tom Brady made an uncharacteristic mistake in the New England Patriots’ loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, and admitted after the game that he simply made a mental error.
The Patriots got the ball at the Miami 15 with 30 seconds left before halftime following a tipped/blocked punt. Brady threw an incompletion on first down and then completed a 13-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski on second down. The Pats used their final timeout after that play.
Then the Pats threw two straight incompletions to set up a 3rd-and-goal with 14 seconds left. After a timeout by Miami to set up for the critical third-down play, Brady inexplicably took a sack, which allowed the clock to run out in the half. The Patriots went from having a sure three points to getting nothing.
Brady said after the game that he mismanaged the play because he thought the Pats had another timeout.
Brady on taking a sack at the end of the half "That was a terrible play by me, that should never happen. I thought we had one timeout." #Patriots pic.twitter.com/PaGpjdmC5A
— Chad Amaral (@Chad_Amaral) December 9, 2018
That’s the kind of mental mistake rookies make or opponents make to give away games to the Patriots. You don’t see Brady do that.
Between that error by Brady and the miracle final play they allowed, the Patriots really earned that loss.
