A Good Start

The New England Patriots are 2-0-0. They just dropped a 40-burger on a divisional opponent, on the road. That's the good news. The better news is the already pretty good Patriots look like they can be much, much better.
 


Tom Brady cooled off just a little bit in Week 2. He was on pace for 64 TD passes after Week 1; now he's on pace for just 56. Okay, averaging 4 TD passes a week was probably unsustainable (unless, of course, Scott Chandler had managed to hang onto that almost TD). Pigskin pundits and bobbleheads are already making the Tom Brady "My Balls Are Perfect" Revenge Tour 2015 a thing but Brady's 466 yards passing was probably more opponent-based game plan than metaphoric middle finger. The Patriots weren't going to run the ball against the Bills' best-in-the-league defensive line; not with three rookies playing significant snaps at guard and center.
 
Still, Tom's terrific play to open the season is hard to ignore. He's always played with a chip on his shoulder. Notice the number on his shirt in that Under Armour commercial? 199. That's where Brady was drafted, with pick #199. So I'm not going to discount the motivation TB12 has taken from Deflategate. After everything he's accomplished, there's still something else to prove. Shade has been thrown on his good name and career accomplishments. There's only one place where Brady can answer the doubters and shut up the haters and that's on the field.

So far, so good.

How much better can the Patriots get? Bryan Stork and Ryan Wendell will help make the offensive line that much better. New England might even re-discover their running game with Stork at center and Wendell at left guard. It would also help if Dion Lewis would stop fumbling. Danny Amendola had a SportsCenter Top 10 catch and Aaron Dobson had a pretty good game for himself on Sunday but Brandon LaFell's return will make the Pats' passing game even more effective. The defense showed flashes of what they can become with 9 tackles for a loss, 10 QB hits, 3 passes defended and 3 interceptions. Maybe it's the Patriots that have the best defensive front seven in the AFC East.

This was a game the Patriots were supposed to lose. The Bills were a trendy pick coming off an impressive win over the Colts. Rex Ryan had everyone west of the Connecticut River believing the Bills were for real. Ryan had had some success against Brady in the past. Yes, his overall record against Brady was 4-9-0 but who could forget that AFC divisional playoff game in 2010? Sure he'd lost to Brady with the Jets twice in 2014 but both losses had been close. These Bills were much better than those Jets and did you see how they took down the younger, more athletic, stronger-armed Andrew Luck? Calling it their Super Bowl was probably overstating it but there was definitely a playoff feel to the pre-game chatter, the amount of face paint in the crowd and the rash of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties committed by the emotionally amped Bills. And what did they get? Tom Brady passed for the most yardage against the Bills in the long and storied history of the franchise. Most ever. 466 yards passing against one of the better defenses led by one of the best defense-first head coaches in the league.

Calling his performance "vintage" Brady implies this was a glimpse back at Brady's better days so I won't call it that. I believe Brady is on a mission. He will be focused, week to week, on playing the best football of his life. Brady 2015 will be the bottle the collector's will value far above Brady 2010 or even Brady 2007 and be willing to pay any price to add to their collection.

It's been a good start. And the best is yet to come.