Quarterback Tom Brady disappointed by loss to the New York Jets
The New England Patriots were pegged as favourites in the American Football Conference (AFC) Divisional Playoff game against the New York Jets, but as we have seen so often this season, the unexpected happened. The Patriots were defeated 28-21 on Sunday
and knocked out of the playoffs.
A frustrated New England Patriots Quarterback, Tom Brady, said in a radio interview, “It's very strange. It (the season) just ends very abruptly. I'm sure a lot of guys were pretty restless (last night). I was certainly one of them. ... We had high expectations;
we just didn't get the job done.” Brady added that the Patriots had a great regular season, but were unable to win the game that mattered most.
New England finished the season with a 14-2 winning record. They were the number one seeded team in the AFC Playoffs and had the best record in the league. Brady said that it took a lot of work to get to the position they were in, but added that they would
put in that effort again next season because that is their job.
“You never get over losses. I've never got over one loss in my career. ... Our expectations every year are to win the Super Bowl.” The Patriots appeared well on their way to winning the Super Bowl. They have defeated every single team that is still in the
playoffs, including the New York Jets. The Jets were decimated 45-3 by Brady and the Patriots earlier in the season. Granted the Jets played a horrible game that day, but no one expected them to come back so strongly in the Playoffs.
“They didn't make any mistakes. They didn't have any penalties, they didn't have any turnovers, they didn't give up big plays,” Brady said. He said that the Jets played a very similar game to the one New England played against the Indianapolis Colts. The
Jets focused on Peyton Manning’s receivers instead of trying to rush him, and were able to effectively control the Colts’ quarterback.
They went a step further with the Patriots. Not only did they cover the wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, they also put pressure on Brady by sacking him five times and causing him to throw his first interception in 340 passes. Brady said, “I
was driving home last night and thought, 'We just never put any pressure on them.'”
It wasn’t just the offence that failed to press the Jets. The defence which intercepted New York’s quarterback Mark Sanchez three times in their last meeting, was unable to get Sanchez to make a mistake on Sunday. He threw three touchdown passes and was
not sacked or intercepted. In all, the Jets scored four touchdowns. They rushed 120 yards and passed 194 without a turnover. This Sunday, the New York Jets were the better team.
Before the game, the Jets - in particular Head Coach Rex Ryan and cornerback Antonio Cromartie - had been taking shots at the Patriots and Brady. While Ryan’s jabs at Brady could be considered playful or at least civilised, the same could not be said about
what Cromartie had to say. Brady, however, dismissed the insults out of hand.
“Honestly, I don't care. I've never met the guy (Cromartie),” Brady said. “I don't know why people say those things. It doesn't affect me in my life. The guys that are most important to me are my team-mates.” Brady said that a team that has a good year can
say what it wants to say. “I wish we won, to shut 'em up, but we didn't,” Brady said.
The quarterback said that none of the things that were said in the weeks before Sunday had any effect on the outcome of the game, including the benching of Wes Welker for comments against Rex Ryan. “I think Wes - that's his personality. He's a very fun,
positive, energetic person. I think Wes just thought it would be funny to come at it in his own way. All that stuff that happened over the course of the week didn't have any impact on the game.”
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