There’s no football this weekend, but hey, it’s still Friday!
Gray: Joe Flacco has been maligned. He’s taken an awful lot of criticism. He says he has a chip on his shoulder. He’s played out his contract. This is his final game with the Ravens under the current deal. He’s just hitting the cash register as Boomer Esiason said. Are you surprised that Flacco has come into the game with everything he has gone through and putting forth this type of performance?
Brady: “Well, he’s playing great and there’s no better time to play great than in the Super Bowl. He’s had a tremendous postseason and he’s really leading this team. He’s done that, really, since he’s come into the league. So it doesn’t surprise me at all what he’s been accomplishing this postseason. It’s really a great game to watch him play. He’s a super talented guy.”
Brady wasn’t as efficient or prolific as he was in 2011, but you wouldn’t know it with his 4,827 passing yards and 38 total touchdowns to just eight turnovers. It was more impressive considering he really never had top tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski healthy at the same time.
Good perspective on the fall out from Bedard…
I think any criticism of Brady is nonsense. His team was less talented than its foe. His team didn’t play well. He didn’t play that well. Nobody in the salary cap era is ever going to be as good as Montana. That’s just the way it is. To me, if there is a common link between the playoff losses to the Giants, Jets, and Ravens, it’s a lack of execution. This has to be what Bill Belichick is racking his brain about. Why does his team execute so consistently during the regular season — especially in the second half of the season — but fail to do so in the biggest games? I don’t think there’s a simple answer. I think the Patriots were just as physical as the Ravens. My fleeting thought: The Patriots seem to play tight in big spots. It seems like, as individuals, they are trying not to make a mistake. Almost robotic. The Ravens, Giants, and Jets appeared to take the fight to the Patriots with an aggressive, throw-caution-to-the-wind mentality. I could be wrong on that, but I think the Patriots need to find some of that themselves.
So true, seems like when teams play the Patriots now they just play loose as if they have nothing to lose and let it all hang out. The Patriots play like they’re trying to live up to the Belichick/Brady teams of the past that won Super Bowl even though those teams are long gone. Look at how flawlessly the Jets, Giants and Ravens have played in defeating the Patriots the last three seasons.
