Questionable for Sunday's showdown vs. the Cowboys with an undisclosed elbow situation, New England Patriots
Tom Brady appeared on the injury report this week unexpectedly.
A few hours prior to kickoff in a game pitting two of the league's best teams, Brady will reportedly try and give it a go.
"Patriots QB
Tom Brady, who popped up on the injury report Friday and is listed as questionable with a right elbow injury, will start today vs. the Cowboys, source said," NFL Network's Ian Rapoport
reported on Sunday.
Two of Brady's top weapons,
Mohamed Sanu and
Phillip Dorsett, remain questionable for the game, not a good sign for an offense that has seemingly hit a production outage over the last three games. Should Sanu and Dorsett sit with injuries, Brady has the following players available as pass-catching options wide receivers
Julian Edelman, N'Keal Harry and
Jakobi Meyers, tight ends Ben Watson,
Matt LaCosse and
Ryan Izzo and a handful of running backs.
That's not New England's only worry on Sunday against a talented Cowboys front. Many analysts have opined Brady is bound to regress and that's what we're seeing out of the veteran signal caller this season.
"Let's be honest: TB12 hasn't really played like an elite quaterback since the middle of 2018, and his declining play at age 42 suggests that we will never see him perform at that level again," NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks
wrote this week. "He might walk into the ring like
Mike Tyson preparing to knock out Michael Spinks, but he's really "Iron Mike" facing Lennox Lewis at the end of his career.
"The swagger and intimidation factor remains, but the game is no longer there -- and it is only a matter of time before opponents realize the bite isn't nearly as ferocious as the bark."
Brady has missed throws he so often makes in recent weeks and has a 7:5 touchdown to interception ratio since New England's win over the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 29. And as Brooks points out, Brady is struggling against pressure normally where he's at his most lethal.
"Against the blitz, though, Brady is completing just 52.4 percent of his passes with a 76.6 passer rating," Brooks writes. "These figures are also significantly down from his last three seasons. In addition, Brady's completion rate against pressure, 32.9, is the second-lowest in the NFL."
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