FOXBORO – In 2007, Tom Brady had 30 touchdown passes and two picks after eight games. In Week 9 of that year, he threw two picks against the Colts (along with three more touchdown passes). Chastened, he came back the next week and threw for five more touchdowns.
In 2010, he didn’t throw an interception after the fifth week of the season and was the first unanimous MVP as voted on by the Associated Press.
The rush has been on to stamp Brady’s first three games of this season as the best he’s ever been and a giant middle finger raised to the rest of the league after DeflateGate.
I don’t think 180 minutes of football is enough to call it his best, but he has been damn good.
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels didn’t want to get into comparisons. But he did say Brady’s approach is such that Brady’s aim is to be the best he’s ever been in the present.
“I just know he’s always trying to work hard to make sure that right now is his best,” said McDaniels. “That to me is the thing I respect and admire the most about him. He doesn’t ever want to have something in the past to be his best because he wants right now to be the best that he’s ever been. And I don’t know that that drive will ever stop. He’s a rare guy in that regard. Like I said, I’m very appreciative of the chance to have the opportunity to work with him every day.”
There is room for improvement, said McDaniels.
“As a coach, you’re so in tune to THIS team and – for me – THIS offense and trying to figure out, ‘How can we be better [that long-view comparisons don’t happen]?' There are definitely things that show up that you just say, ‘That shouldn’t happen. We can fix that and make it better.’ ”
With the Patriots heading into the bye week, they now have a chance to sand down the rough spots McDaniels is referring to. They should, presumably, come out of the bye even harder to stop. Which means the comparisons between now and all those great “thens” are not going to stop.