Following Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins in Miami, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady questioned his team’s toughness.
“I think we’ve got to find a way to play better football for 60 minutes, in all phases, and everyone has got to focus on what they need to do better. I think that’s the most important thing: being mentally tough to overcome adversity,” Brady said. “When things don’t go your way, you have to fight back. That’s a challenge for all of us. I think at times we do, and at times I don’t think we fight very hard.
“We have leads in the second half and leads in the fourth quarter and we’re just not closing the game out when we have the opportunity to.”
Not that I disagree with him, but this is coming from the man who complained to a ref when a member of the Ravens’ defense blew on his knee.
There’s something fundamentally lacking with the way the Patriots play on the road. In their heyday, the Pats would jump out to a big lead and then step on their opponents’ throats. But now they keep their opponents in the game throughout by playing poor defense and turning the ball over offensively.
On Sunday, Brady’s interception in the end zone late in the fourth quarter killed them. But the Dolphins still had to march up the field in order to score, which they did. Whether it’s a lack of toughness or not, the Patriots just aren’t getting it done on the road and that’s a troubling sign with the playoffs looming.
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