Tom Brady Trolls Haters, Compares Deep Ball Accuracy To Drivers And Wedges
By Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff)
BOSTON (CBS) -- There are plenty of arguments that pompous media parasites, salty fans, and straight-up trolls outside of New England like to catapult at Tom Brady in pathetically desperate attempts to discredit his accomplishments and abilities. The "system quarterback" argument is a personal favorite of mine, along with the ad hominem onslaughts about his relationships or fashion sense.
A companion piece to the system argument is Brady's deep ball accuracy, which has never been his strong point. Brady knows this, and acknowledged it in his Wednesday press conference. Props to the reporter who asked Brady about his much improved accuracy on deep balls this season - he's throwing at 47.1% on passes of 21-30 yards, a huge boost from 28.1% last season.
When told about the improvement Brady offered this subtly amazing piece of trolling: "Really? That's surprising to me."
He continued: "We've talked about that a lot over the last couple of years, trying to make plays more vertically in the defense...It's great to have those 12-and-13-play drives, but it's great to score in one play or two plays also."
He then compared his throwing mechanics to golf swings: "Like hitting a wedge or a driver - it's the same swing...One is just there's a little nuance to it that's maybe a little different. I haven't hit the driver as well as I've probably hit the wedges, but if I can hit the driver a little better, it'll make things easier on our team."
A lot of fans like to invalidate Brady for playing to his true strengths, the short-to-intermediate passing game, as if that playing style is somehow less of a challenge than just throwing up jump-balls and hoping for PI flags. As if what Brady does is easy - which, amazingly, so many fans tend to believe. Then it's a wonder why not every quarterback does it if it's so simple. If I may present a straw man for a moment...If only the Super Bowl were decided with a throwing distance contest, Joe Flacco would have about 9 rings by now.
Brady tries his darndest to sound humble as he prods his detractors with comments like these, only further fueling the jealousy as he acts sheepish about things he clearly realizes about himself. Brady knows the short passes cash the checks for him and that he could be better with deep balls, but he also knows he can assassinate you on the field with or without it. You can crow all you want about deep balls; Brady is going to slowly slice and dice you to death. And in most cases this season, there has been nothing defenses could do about it.
So next time you try to discredit Brady for his lack of accuracy on deep balls, just understand that there is about a 90% chance you are absorbing the pain and misery he's inflicted upon you with his Dink & Dunk Death Machine and rocketing it back at him. If you truly believe that anyone could succeed like Brady has in the Patriots system, or that anyone can do what Brady does at the line of scrimmage, you should Google "football literature" before presenting your next argument.
I'm sure I'm coming off like a pompous media parasite myself right now. No offense...but if you are incredibly still graping (that is, "being a sour grape about") Brady for wastes of breath like deep ball accuracy, a little patronization is much deserved.
Brady knows he could be better with the driver as he is with the wedges, but he also knows that it doesn't matter. On Sunday there's a good chance he's leaving with the W either way.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read more from Matt here. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.