With the New England Patriots (3-2) emphatic win against the Cincinnati

Bengals (3-1) in week five, many fans believe the Patriots have turned the

corner on a below par start to the season.

Tom Brady had a season best performance of 292 passing yards, two

TD’s, a completion percentage of 66% and a QB passer rating of 110 it

seems the Patriots 37 year old QB has silenced his critics.

In week four the Kansas City Chiefs (2-3) destroyed the Patriots in a 41-

14 victory with Brady having one of his worse games statistically in his

career. Brady had a mere 159 passing yards, one TD, an interception,

two fumbles and a QB passer rating of under 60. With stats like these

Reports of Brady being a washed up 37 year old QB with wavering skills

was worldwide news within hours. Has he lost his talent? Was it over for

Brady? Were the Patriots ready to trade Brady and move forward with

rookie QB Jimmy Garoppolo?

Take a look at Brady’s offensive weapons this season. Danny Amendola

has been non-existent this season and has found it difficult since joining

the Patriots in 2013, Brandon LaFell who has struggled to learn new

offence, gel with Brady and has had a few catching issues. Rob

Gronkowski and Julian Edelman have been quite productive and both

look to have a 900-1,000 yard season but with Gronk coming back from

surgery and Edelman not exactly a number one reciever by any means

the Patriots once great arial offence is not what it used to be.

Another issue for New England is the offensive line not being able to

keep Brady upright allowing nine sacks in the first four games. The O line

did managed to give up only one sack in the week five game against the

Bengals but the jury is still out on whether they can continue this for the

rest of the season. We can only wait and see.

On a good note both RB’s Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley have both

performed well so far this season, both look on course to have over 1000

yards from scrimmage.

Another upside to the Patriots is that their defence ranks at number four

in overall yards allowed per game (302), they also have been great at

forcing turnovers with six interceptions and six forced fumbles. If the

offence can start performing then these stats could improve by taking

some pressure off.

Brady’s stats so far are not as bad as people are thinking, Brady would

still be on course for over 3,000 passing yards and 20 TD’s this season.

Yes these stats are below what Brady has produced over recent years but

still respectable. Brady now has over 50,000 career passing yards joining

an elite group of QB’s and his career stats are worthy of being a first

ballot hall of famer.

Brady and the Patriots need LaFell & Amendola to start performing or I

think that life with the Patriots will be short lived for them.

Brady is far from finished in New England and the NFL. If he can

perform as he did in week five and his offensive weapons can up their

game, then along with a top five defence the Patriots could go a long way

into the playoffs.

There is no better QB in the playoffs than Tom Brady with 18 wins and

eight losses. In those wins Brady has three Super Bowl wins and five

conference game wins. You can never write Brady or the Patriots off and

I expect them to have a big game against AFC East rivals the Buffao Bills

(3-2) this week. Brady has only lost to the Bills twice in his career,

putting up some great numbers and with the Bills having QB issues I

think it will be a great day for Pariots this week.

Only time will tell on wether the Patriots offence can build on their week

five performance but I’m sure and head coach Bill Bellichick and

offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will do everything in their power to

make it happen.