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BOSTON (AP) — If his 19th NFL season has been at all more taxing than any of the previous 18 Drew Bledsoe Jerseys 2019 , Tom Brady isn’t willing to say so.Even if his play on the field through the Patriots‘ first 10 games this season might suggest otherwise.Last season, at age 40 Brady became the oldest player in NFL history to earn regular-season MVP honors.A year later, he finds himself in the throes of some his worst passing numbers in three seasons as the Patriots head into their bye week. What’s unclear is whether it’s an aberration or perhaps the first subtle signs of decline for the 41-year-old quarterback.It’s not as if Brady is having a disastrous year. Despite coming off a humbling 34-10 loss to Tennessee , New England still enters its bye with a 7-3 record and is on its way to capturing its 10th straight AFC East title.Brady is still completing 65 percent of his passes and has 17 touchdowns. He’s done it despite having to break in new players in the receiving group, dealing with injuries at running back and seeing tight end Rob Gronkowski battle ankle and back injuries.“We just haven’t had that, I would say, overall consistency and the ability to practice together,” Brady said. “That’s not an excuse. … A lot of teams deal with injuries and moving parts and bringing different people in. That’s just part of football. But we’re trying to adjust and adapt like everyone else. Some weeks it’s been better than others.”In recent years Brady has typically shrugged off questions about his health or any injuries he might be dealing with. It included him famously wearing a glove during the playoffs last season to shield the extent of a cut he sustained on his throwing hand prior to the AFC championship game.That same, guarded posture has extended to all inquiries about whether any of the hits he’s taken this season have affected his performance.Asked Wednesday about how he was feeling physically heading into the bye week, Brady smiled before saying, “Pretty good, pretty good.”“Some bumps and bruises, but I think that’s part of football season and I feel pretty good,” he added.There’s definitely been more hiccups that usual in the passing game for the Patriots.In his first seven games this season White Steve Grogan Jerseys , Brady had a passer rating of 100 or greater five times, while completing 67 percent of his passes and throwing for 16 touchdowns. He did it despite being sacked nine times during those games and tossing seven interceptions.He hasn’t thrown any picks over the Patriots’ past three games, but he’s been sacked seven additional times. He’s also thrown just one TD pass and seen his completion rate drop to 59 percent with a passer rating of 85.1.Brady is also being asked to do more outside of the pocket, serving as a blocker on trick plays and even catching a pass during the loss to the Titans. And because of New England’s injury issues at running back, Brady’s number has been called more often for quarterback sneaks.“I think we’re certainly aware of that, but there’s certain things that I think you have to do sometimes to win the game,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.Belichick said he doesn’t believe they are putting more of a load on Brady than they think he can handle.“We’ll just have to evaluate those things going forward. Not looking to do an excessive amount of them, that’s for sure, but if there’s a situational play or something that comes up, then I think we’d consider it,” Belichick said. “Quarterbacks get hit in the pocket and quarterbacks scramble and a lot of people converge on them in a hurry. So, nobody knows that better than Tom does.”Running back James White said the onus on protecting Brady extends across the entire offense. That includes better blitz pickup by everyone.“Definitely need to be better just communicating and when we do — when we are on the same page — do a better job of getting Tom enough time to read the coverage out and if he decides to hold the ball, still give him enough time to do that, too Steve Grogan Jerseys 2019 ,” White said.Brady said he’ll be using the time off to recharge going into the stretch run of the regular season.“We’ve had a lot of weeks of football and we’ve got some really important ones coming up,” he said. “So hopefully we can learn from the things that have happened over the course of the season and use them to our advantage moving forward.”He said improvement must come across the board.“The reality is for the quarterback, I can do what I can do and I need to shore things up with what I can do,” Brady said. “I don’t think any player’s really satisfied. I think we’re all looking to get better and improve and we have some opportunity to do that.” Patriots Derangement Syndrome is real, and it’s spectacular.Rich Hill measures out a dose of perspective.In 2018, the experts ranked the 7-2 Patriots between 2nd and 4th, pretty close to where they are being pegged this week. The main difference being last year the Pats had put together a six-game win streak after starting the year 1-2.The trend was inching upwards.Last week the Pats were undefeated and, except for one vote for 2nd place, sat atop the rankings. With the misfortune of (gulp) losing a single game on the road they’ve been dropped a few notches, triggering open season on a failing dynasty.Can you spell C-L-I-F-F? Reading through the contradictory comments, the turmoil is evident. From ‘the offense had no luck going no-huddle’, to ‘the offense saw improvement’. And the questioning of ‘whether it’s fair to at least ask if we were overrating the Patriots during the first half of the season’ to conceding ‘they’re almost certain to have home-field throughout the AFC playoffs anyway.’Was the loss an outlier, or merely the first missed step down a steep 5-game flight of stairs?Enquiring minds want to know.That’s why they get paid the big bucks.New England heads into the bye week like I do on the weekend - with a lengthy to-do list in hand. Bill Belichick has always been big on self-scouting and figuring out how to fix what he knows the Eagles, Cowboys White Kevin Faulk Jerseys , Texans and Chiefs have already targeted for exploitation. Belichick has already hinted at what’s first on the list: Fundamentals. It’s one thing for defenders to be in the right place, but another thing altogether to make the proper tackle. You can bet that will be an emphasis at practice when the team reconvenes after some well-earned time away. Rest and heal up, men. It’s full steam ahead after the break.GO PATS!Around the AFC East:New England Patriots (8-1) - in our poll, a sign of our panel’s confidence in Bill Belichick’s defense’s ability to rebound from the loss to the Ravens and for the Patriots to continue their march to the No. 1 seed.3rd - Consensus (Bleacher Report): The mighty have fallen. Actually, the previously unbeaten New England Patriots didn’t so much fall on Sunday night. They were pushed down a flight of steps. The Ravens punished New England’s vaunted defense, piling up over 200 rushing yards. The Patriots have problems. The offensive line isn’t especially good. The receiving corps is better after adding Mohamed Sanu, but it’s still far from exceptional. The ground game didn’t even get 75 yards against Baltimore. “It’s fair to at least ask if we were overrating the Patriots during the first half of the season,” Gagnon said. “They were outplayed badly by the Ravens in a game that was more lopsided than the score would seem to indicate. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had trouble against Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and/or Kansas City following their Week 10 bye. But will that matter? They’re almost certain to have home-field throughout the AFC playoffs anyway.” Davenport is more in tune with the end of that statement. “Yes, the Patriots have some issues that were exposed Sunday night,” he said. “But it seems like every year there’s a ‘What’s wrong with the Pats?’ game, which is usually followed by a winning streak and a deep playoff run. The Patriots are the Patriots partly because of their ability to bounce back from adversity and fix problems as they arise. “All due credit to the Ravens, but New England remains the class of the AFC until someone knocks it out of the postseason.”3rd - Dan Hanzus (NFL.com): The Patriots began their season with eight straight wins Kevin Faulk Jerseys 2019 , with nearly all of those victories coming by landslide. That dominance is what made Sunday night’s 17-point loss to the Ravens such a surreal sight. This Patriots team has been led by its defense, but when Lamar Jackson marched Baltimore on a pair of 14-play touchdown drives in the second half, it showed that the unit is not nearly as invincible as originally thought. In Week 8, a bad Browns team rushed for 159 yards against New England. The Ravens went over 200 yards on the same night the Patriots’ own running game fizzled once again in limited duty. It was a bad night, no doubt, but this is hardly time for panic at Patriot Way. Bill Belichick gets a nicely timed Week 10 bye to get healthy and clean up some of the deficiencies that have popped up. The Pats’ next opponent (the Eagles) should be worried.3rd - Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News): The Patriots got ripped by the Ravens before a much-needed bye week. Some of the issues they were having in smaller doses against weaker opponents all came to a head against an explosive, run-heavy team that dominated both time of possession and the scoreboard. New England is still the AFC favorite, but there’s a lot more doubt now with a tougher schedule ahead.3rd - Mark Maske (Washington Post): The possibility of a 16-0 regular season, duplicating the feat of the 2007 Patriots, is lost. So, too, is the prospect of the first 19-0 season in NFL history. So be it. The Patriots are all about winning Super Bowls, and that remains a distinct possibility. But the defense has had issues against the run in two straight games. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was too much to handle Sunday night. And, at this point White Tedy Bruschi Jerseys , the offense does not appear capable of winning a game that becomes a score-fest.3rd - Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports): I considered keeping the Patriots at No. 2, and think the margin between them and the 49ers is razor thin. The Patriots are still fantastic. One loss doesn’t change that. If there’s any concern for New England, it’s that the offense may be good but not great. Julian Edelman and Mohamed Sanu had 20 combined catches for only 170 yards. We’ve seen the Patriots use the short passing game better than anyone, but they need explosion in the passing game. It’s where Josh Gordon will be missed.4th - Pete Prisco (CBS Sports): It’s just one loss, but they looked really bad on defense against the Ravens. That won’t happen again. They will use that loss as motivation.4th - Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk): The Ravens may have provided the next four opponents with a blueprint for beating New England, especially since each of them (Eagles, Cowboys, Texans, Chiefs) has a mobile quarterback.4th - Nate Davis (USA Today): Exposed? Tripped up by bad matchup? Or are apparent cracks in armor growing? Time to patch them up as more formidable opponents await on other side of bye.AVERAGE RANK: 2.6