Fascinated By The Process

Thank the pigskin gods, yet one more time, for Tom Brady.

Let me start with the touchdown pass to Malcolm Mitchell. It was sublime. It was like watching a great NBA point guard hit a streaking swing man on the fast break. A Eurostep dunk. The quick step to the right by Brady to stay alive in the pocket. The nanosecond between recognition and execution. The defender, with his back turned, has no idea what is about to happen. Brady’s pass is thrown perfectly; a dart, it hits Mitchell in stride. When Mitchell catches the ball, the defender is suddenly surprised and in the moment of hesitation that follows shock, Michell is gone.

I will revisit the highlights from this game many times just to see this play again and again.

So beautiful.

Okay, none of us feels that good about the defense. Still. Holding your opponent to 17 points will get it done as long as TB12 is playing quarterback.

Perhaps this is important, though.

It seems to me the Patriots are starting over. How that turns out we’ll see but having Dion Sanders and Kyle Van Noy taking meaningful snaps, watching Trey Flowers blow up right in front of our eyes, that one WTF?!?!? play Vincent Valentine makes each game (where does he go after that?), actual blitzing on defense, Logan Ryan looking good again, Cyrus Jones not fumbling; it all felt like a slightly different vibe for me.

Not that they haven’t kept some of the good things from the first half of the season.

LeGarrette Blount was once again a tank. Watching the Patriots match 49er timeouts with Blount gashing them on the ground for 5+ yards to close out the 4th quarter was reminiscent of Clock Killin’ Corey Dillon. (Good times.) Too bad Blount’s TD run was called back on the Nate Solder hold but the record will simply have to wait. Bill Belichick has said that sometimes you need to be able to run the ball when thye know you are going to run the ball. The 49ers knew the Patriots wanted to run the football. They knew Blount was getting the football. 124 yards on 19 attempts. Tankity-tankity-tankity-tank.

When they get the whole band back together, when Gronk and Chris Hogan return, when Dion Lewis is 100%, the offense has a chance to be special. Really special. Special enough that this defense is more than good enough.  

Yes there were some breakdowns but there were some special moments, too. Five sacks!

All in all I’m heartened. I’m interested in the process. For a while there I was so like please no more dramas but now I have to say. I’m interested in the process. Will the Patriots defense continue to blitz? What happens with Jabaal Sheard? Will Cyrus Jones continue to not fumble until he runs a kick back for a TD? Will Elandon Roberts escape Jamie Collins’ shadow? Who are these guys, anyway?

I want to know the answer to these and other interesting questions I’ve yet to think of.

I’m interested in the process.

That includes Brady. He’s arguably the greatest to ever play the game and he’s playing a suspension-shortened season at age 39 that may go down as his career best. Not because of volume numbers, of course. He’s come back to the pack on efficiency numbers, too. And I’m not arguing an MVP case for Brady. No, I’m fascinated by the post-Deflategate narrative Brady is creating. Were there some people who expected Brady to fail because he couldn’t underinflate footballs anymore? Are they disappointed in what’s happened so far? Do they reassure themselves that Brady has simply found another way to cheat?

I’m interested in the narrative, too.

And I'm a sucker for a happy ending.