Buffalo Bills go into Monday Night Football knowing that the New England quarterback is not slowing down
There were many accusations levelled at the New England Patriots, and in particular, Tom Brady in the off-season.
Now both the team and player have been vindicated, what it certain is that, as Newsday’s Barbara Barker put it this week: “The only thing Brady is cheating this season is Father Time.”
Currently sitting on 3043 yards, 24 touchdowns and only three interceptions for the season, Brady is firmly on track to emulate his 2007 season performance.
What happened that year?
That’s right, the Patriots went 16-0 before narrowly losing the Super Bowl.
This season they are 9-0 and, after an extraordinary game against the New York Giants last weekend that they really shouldn’t have won, no-one would be surprised if they went undefeated once again.
They are obvious 5/17 against Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.
One stumbling block to that would be if Brady’s form suddenly went the way of Peyton Manning.
Unfortunately many experts, including Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo from last week, believe Brady is, if anything, getting better with age.
The evidence presented is that he is still getting such high numbers despite his offensive line being so much more inexperienced than its 2007 equivalent.
If Brady keeps up this form, unstoppable won’t be the word.
The latest brave roadblock to try and disturb the Patriots’ runaway train will be Rex Ryan’s Buffalo Bills defence, with the team 27/10 for the win.
Ryan has already tried to stop New England once this season already, back in Week 2 and will not have forgotten how they were comprehensively dismantled.
Brady threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns without breaking a sweat that day – completing 38 of 59 passes in the process and he is 10/11 to get the Patriots to over 27.5 points.
As Ryan himself put it: “That quarterback never gets worse. Like what is wrong with him? You know what I mean? When you get older, you’re supposed to get worse.
“This dude’s getting better. Like, it’s sick. It’s not right. I’m waiting for the wheels to fall off.”
It looks like he will be waiting a while.
Brady, meanwhile, has a chance to once again prove he can get the same prowess with a weaker team than in years gone by – especially since his two favourite receivers will be missing.
Dion Lewis and Julian Edelman achieved a combined 235 yards from the line of scrimmage in week two.
This week, though? Edelman has a fractured foot and Lewis has undergone surgery on a torn ACL.
But is Tom worried? Don’t count on it.
The Patriots and Brady have been called all sorts this season thanks to the ‘Deflategate’ scandal and have come back stronger than ever.
Brady is more of a hyena than a cheater.
Because with his recent performances, he’s laughing.
