Thread: Tom Brady's personal passing guru says ankle had impact on performance

I have to agree, he just didn't look like himself.
Can't really blame the O-line if your QB isn't as mobile as he normally is.

Tom Brady's personal passing guru says ankle had impact on performance


BY RICH CIMINI
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Tuesday, February 5th 2008, 4:00 AM

Appleton/News
Tom Brady downplays ankle trouble but QB's tutor suggests it hurt Pats.


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The man who has coached Tom Brady for 18 years believes his star pupil was affected his ballyhooed right-ankle injury in Super Bowl XLII.
"He had chances and he had guys open, but in an atypical way, the ball wasn't getting there," said Tom Martinez, Brady's personal passing guru, Monday in a phone interview from Menlo Park, Calif. "(The coaches) didn't move the pocket much to get him outside the pocket. They didn't do some things they've done in the past. That led me to believe there was some kind of problem with the ankle."

Brady, under intense pressure from the Giants' pass rush in the 17-14 loss, struggled with his accuracy. He completed 29 of 48 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown, but there were several missed opportunities. Afterward, he insisted the ankle, hurt in the AFC Championship Game, wasn't a factor.

The Patriots didn't include Brady's ankle on their official injury report, and he took every rep in practice last week. That came as a mild surprise, considering he was photographed in a walking boot two weeks ago outside the Manhattan apartment of his supermodel girlfriend, Gisele Bundchen.

According to the Fox TV announcers, Brady revealed in a production meeting last week that he was concerned about his ankle, especially on how it would affect his deep throws. Indeed, there were a couple of long passes that came up well short of his intended receiver.
Naturally, Martinez, a nationally renowned passing expert, wasn't privy to the Patriots' game plan, but he sensed something was amiss.

"I saw a different approach from them," he said. "They're so smart, and yet it was kind of shocking they didn't have a few more answers. I felt like - and I have to be careful with what I say - that they stayed too long with what they were doing.

"They weren't really aggressive the way they went about it. In the second and third period, it's like they were trying to hang on, 7-3. That led me to believe that something internal was going on. It wasn't typical. Those coaches always have answers to the people who give them problems."
Martinez knows Brady as well as anyone. Even to this day, he still works with the Patriots quarterback in the offseason. Just last week, Brady commended Martinez for the impact he has had on his career.

Martinez wasn't alone in his opinion of the Patriots' offensive approach. After the game, wide receiver Randy Moss questioned the coaching, saying, "The Giants just had a better game plan."
Indeed, the Patriots waited too long to get Moss (five catches for 62 yards) involved in the offense. Part of it stemmed from their inability to control the line of scrimmage. The Patriots were manhandled at the point of attack, allowing five sacks and rushing for only 45 yards.

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, hailed throughout the season as a whiz kid, tried several quick screens to Wes Welker. But the Giants reacted as if they knew what was coming, often tackling Welker as soon as he caught the ball.
Remarkably, Brady didn't commit any turnovers, no easy feat considering how many times he was hit. But he wasn't sharp, a carryover from his three-interception performance against the Chargers in the AFC title game. Clearly, that wasn't just an aberration.
"I don't know what it was," Martinez said, "but the Patriots didn't look like the Patriots."

You're the one in Boston.