Tom Brady’s personal passing guru thinks the Patriots quarterback will survive the trade of Randy Moss, but adds the overall impact on the New England passing game won’t really be measured until later this season.
Since the start of the 2007 season until the time of the deal, the Brady/Moss combination was lethal for the rest of the league. In his three-plus years with the Patriots, Moss caught 259 passes for 3,904 yards and 50 touchdowns. Of those, 193 of those catches for 2,948 yards and 39 touchdowns came from Brady.
In the history of the NFL, few quarterback/receiver combos have been that prolific in that short a span.
“Fifty touchdown catches in three years — as a quarterback, you hope in your lifetime you come across one Randy Moss,” said Bay Area quarterbacks coach Tom Martinez.
Few people know Brady better. Dating back to high school, Martinez has been the one coaching constant in Brady’s life, and the two continue to work together on a regular basis. (Brady thinks so highly of Martinez he gave him the game ball from his first win as a starter with New England.)
Martinez said the biggest change is that Brady now lacks that quick-strike ability that Moss was able to deliver on a consistent basis.
“Now, I don’t think the Patriots have that kind of quick-strike ability,” Martinez said. “None of the [running] backs are quick strikers. [Brandon] Tate, in my opinion, is the only guy who has the sort of ability, but he’s only a second-year guy. He’s the only guy with that kind of speed.
“That methodical offense is awesome and they do it well, but you can’t get back into the game that quickly. They just don’t have that speed anymore.”
Now, Martinez believes Brady’s focus in the passing game will change. He believes that the Patriots will utilize a passing attack that’s more dependent on short and intermediate routes with more multiple tight end sets. It’s a scheme that’s likely to surprise some teams for the next few weeks coming out of the bye.
“The Patriots may be able to catch some people by surprise because they scheme pretty good with that extra time coming out of the bye — nobody knows what they are going to do,” Martinez said.
“They may surprise people for one or two weeks, but when it gets on tape, the defensive coordinators they will face in the next three, four, five or six weeks, that’s when the tale will be told. If they can play through that period of time and win, then, I’d have to think they’d have figured it out.”
Since the deal went down, Brady has pretty much stayed out of sight — his only interview was with “Patriots All-Access,” which aired over the weekend. In that Q&A, Brady was appreciative of Moss as a player and as an individual, but was clearly a realist about the situation.
“Randy’s been a great player here since he got here,” Brady said on the show. “We have a lot of other great players on this team, too. Randy really knows how I feel about him. I love him as a guy, as a person, as a player. He did a lot of great things for this team, but we have a lot of guys on this team who are excited about the opportunities that they have, and we’ll be ready to play when we play Baltimore with the guys we’ve got.
“You don’t sit here and lose a guy like that and say: ‘Well it’s the greatest thing,” Brady adds. “He’s a Hall of Fame receiver. We were much better [with Moss], but at the same time, I think that coach [Bill] Belichick feels that’s what he thinks he needs to do for the team. We as players, we deal with it and we move on.
“I think I’ve been around long enough to realize that nothing really surprises me. The best thing for me to do is be the best quarterback that I can be for the team, and I plan on being that.”
To do that, Martinez believes Brady will have a new challenge looming, with defenses now gearing up to slow down Wes Welker, Tate and rookie tight ends Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski.
“If I were playing them now,” Martinez said, “I’d double-team Welker and say, ‘Let’s see how good these tight ends are.’ I’d also see if Tate could really catch the football.”
All that being said, Martinez understands why the Patriots decided to make the move to trade Moss when they did, saying the value was undeniable.
“In the end, you have to look at what they gave up. They got him for a fourth-round pick, and traded him for a third-round pick,” Martinez said. “For the production they got out of Randy, they drove a Mercedes-Benz for the price of a Volkswagen.”
CHRISTOPHER PRICE
Pete joined the show to discuss Tebow's signing with the Patriots. He said that Tim Tebow cant play and that he has trouble learning NFL playbooks.
On this episode of the It Is What It Is Cast, Chris Price talks with the Boston Herald's Jeff P Howe about the Patriots offseason, Rob Gronkowski's back surgery, Danny Amendola replacing Wes Welker, and how this seasons team will stack up against last seasons.
In the latest edition of the It Is What It Is Cast, Chris Price talks with Will Carroll. Injury expert and lead writer for Sports Medicine, Bleacher Report. They talk about the injury to Rob Gronkowski and what his back surgery could mean for his season.
Jeff joined the show to discuss the rumors of Doc heading to the Clippers. Jeff said that he will not discuss his future but that his brother would be a great candidate anywhere.
Stephen A. joined the show to discuss the status of trade negotiations between the Clippers and the Celtics. Stephen said that it is a 50-50 proposition that Doc ends up in Los Angeles.
Grande and Max take more calls on the Celtics and discuss what lies ahead for Doc Rivers with Steve Bulpett.
John Farrell postgame press conference
Joe & Dave talked to the Sox outfielder, who pounded the ball out of the park to win the second game of the doubleheader against the Rays.
John Farrell postgame press conference
Pierre McGuire joins Mut and Merloni after a Bruins win and discusses the play of Rask and the defense, the Hossa injury, and Jagr.
Tony Amonte calls out Marian Hossa for missing Game 3 and recaps the Bruins win.
Barry joined the show to discuss the Bruins 2-0 win over the Blackhawks in game three. Barry continues to be impressed by the play of Bergeron.
Barry joined the show to discuss the Bruins 2-0 win over the Blackhawks in game three. Barry continues to be impressed by the play of Bergeron.
Jeff joined the show to discuss the rumors of Doc heading to the Clippers. Jeff said that he will not discuss his future but that his brother would be a great candidate anywhere.
The guys opened the show discussing the Bruins' dominating Game 3 win over the Blackhawks. Gerry thinks the series is over.
Pierre McGuire joins Mut and Merloni after a Bruins win and discusses the play of Rask and the defense, the Hossa injury, and Jagr.
Tony Amonte calls out Marian Hossa for missing Game 3 and recaps the Bruins win.
Andy Brickley joins Mut and Merloni in studio to take phone calls from the listeners and to preview Game 3 of the Stanley Cup.
Salk and Holley break down a big Bruins win over the Blackhawks in game 3 at the garden.
We talk all Bruins, all the time with the man himself, Jack Edwards from NESN gets us ready for game three and beyond.
Four guys, four topics we haven't yet touched upon today. TO visits Ocho, Bob Costas has enough smarm for us all, stupid beauty pageant contestants and more.
Mikey gets a surprise call from Bernie Carbo, they talk about old time baseball and Bernie's new book.
Mikey talks with Tom and Luke about their new movie, Plimpton! and finds out what it was like to try to encapsulate everything Plimpton accomplished during his life.
Today on the Daily Planet, the Red Sox and Yankees face off in the Bronx, Claude Julien doesn't want players wasting energy, and Dwight Howard and free agency.
You ask, we answer. Today featuring NESN's Jack Edwards.
The new way we end the show. You ask, we answer.
You ask, we answer... anything!
Stephen A. joined the show to discuss the status of trade negotiations between the Clippers and the Celtics. Stephen said that it is a 50-50 proposition that Doc ends up in Los Angeles.
More from this showShawn joined the show to discuss the Bruins' OT win in Chicago. Shawn said that there was a heated discussion during the first intermission Saturday night in Chicago after the team's poor first period.
More from this showThe guys opened the show discussing the rumors regarding Doc Rivers being part of a deal between the Celtics and the Clippers.
More from this showBoth Xander Bogaerts and Anthony Ranaudo punctuated their strong 2013 seasons with head-turning events on June 13. On that day, Bogaerts, the Red Sox' top prospect, was promoted from Double-A Portland Pawtucket, with the 20-year-old becoming one of the youngest position players in the affiliate's history. On that same day, right-hander Anthony Ranaudo punched out 13 batters for Double-A Portland, the most strikeouts by a Red Sox minor leaguer since Jon Lester in 2005. They joined Minor Details to discuss both those accomplishments and their seasons to date.
More from this showThe guys opened the show discussing ESPN's NBA coverage and how Bill Simmons has lost his edge in recent years. Gerry praised Bill for anti-ESPN tweets following the coverage of Game 4.
More from this show