« Patriots release statement on Andrews | Main | Transcript: Bill Belichick's conference call on Tuesday »

February 5, 2008

Brady's personal passing coach thinks QB was hampered by ankle injury

Tom Martinez, the personal passing guru of Tom Brady, told the New York Daily News Monday in a phone interview from Menlo Park, Calif., that he thinks his pupil's ankle hampered him in Super Bowl XLII.

"He had chances and he had guys open, but in an atypical way, the ball wasn't getting there," said Martinez. "(The coaches) didn't move the pocket much to get him outside the pocket. They didn't do some things they've done in the past. That led me to believe there was some kind of problem with the ankle."

According to the Fox TV announcers, Brady said in a production meeting last week that he was concerned about his ankle, especially on how it would affect his deep throws.

"I saw a different approach from [the Patriots]," he said. "They're so smart, and yet it was kind of shocking they didn't have a few more answers. I felt like -- and I have to be careful with what I say -- that they stayed too long with what they were doing.

"They weren't really aggressive the way they went about it. In the second and third period, it's like they were trying to hang on, 7-3. That led me to believe that something internal was going on. It wasn't typical. Those coaches always have answers to the people who give them problems.

"I don't know what it was, but the Patriots didn't look like the Patriots."

Posted by Art Martone  at 4:17 PM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: michaela at February 6, 2008 10:58 AM