New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady experienced what some would call an “off year,” but he is poised to improve his statistics from last season.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady experienced an “off year” by his standards after losing five of his top receivers. This included Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd and Danny Woodhead.
The misfortune for Brady also occurred at tight end. Aaron Hernandez was also lost after being arrested on suspicion of murder, and Rob Gronkowski missed a large portion of the season.
This caused Brady’s stats to go down, and he finished with only 25 touchdown passes while completing just 60.5 percent of his passes. However, he led the Patriots to a 12-4 record and a trip to the AFC Championship.
The future Hall of Famer is poised for a spike in his statistics for the 2014 season, and here are five reasons why.
5. Rob Gronkowski
Gronkowski will return for the Patriots as their starting tight end, and he is expected to be ready at the beginning of the season if not Week 1. His impact his clearly felt in the Patriots, and they were able to score 55 points against the Steelers with him on the field. That is only one example of how vital Gronkowski is to the Patriots offense. He also holds the single-season record for touchdowns by a tight end with 17.
4. Chemistry with receivers
When Gronkowski was out, Brady’s job was much more difficult as he only had rookie receivers like Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins to throw to most of the time. Veteran Julian Edelman became Brady’s top target, and he looked like Wes Welker 2.0. Danny Amendola has been a free-agent bust as he continues to be injury-prone. However, Thompkins and Dobson are bound to improve in Year 2 with Brady, and Edelman will continue to be a reliable weapon as long as Brady is under center.
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