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December 16, 2007

No TD tosses for Tom Brady

It had been a long time since Tom Brady played a game when he didn't throw a touchdown pass.

Over a year, in fact.

Dec. 10, 2006, to be exact.

Until this Sunday, when the Jets prevented the NFL's leading passer from completing a pass in the end zone.

The Jets and the weather, that is.

"Obviously, it wasn't very conducive to throwing the football," Brady said.

Throwing a wet ball on a dismal afternoon of sleet and rain, Brady completed a season-low 14 of 27 passes, for just 140 yards -- also a season low _ with one interception.

"I wish we played in a dome every week," said Brady, sounding about envious of his primary rival for NFL passing supremacy, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who plays at least half his games indoors in Indianapolis.

"It's 65 or 70 degrees playing in a dome," Brady said, "and the elements are never a factor. That's not the case in Foxboro. But you play with whatever conditions are out there, and you just try to do the best you can."

The best thing to do on such a blustery day is run the ball, which the Patriots did successfully -- Laurence Maroney rushing for 104 yards and a TD on 26 carries.

"It was a big game for him," Brady said. "I thought he played really well. I thought he ran the ball hard, took care of the ball, scored on the goal line.

"That's what we're going to need from him the rest of the season. Hopefully, Laurence gained some confidence. I know we all have confidence in Laurence. He just hasn't had quite the opportunity that he would like, but I know he was excited today."

Given the weather, it was hard for Brady to throw the ball with much confidence.

"It's just one of those situations," he said, "where there are a lot of things you don't call because you don't hit them or complete them. Anything deep, or to the sideline, is challenging, so you have to find a way to make plays on the inside part of the field when you get your opportunities."

Brady almost had a touchdown pass late in the game, but Jets defensive back Hank Poteat, a former Patriot, knocked the ball away from Moss at the last instant. The Pats wound up settling for a field goal on that drive, the highlight of which was a 46-yard completion to Moss at the N.Y. 14. Prior to that, the longest completion Brady had was a 16-yarder to Wes Welker only a few plays earlier in the same series.

"It's always challenging with the wind," said Brady. "Then you put a wet ball out there and it's even more challenging. But I thought we made a lot of good plays, a lot of plays we needed. Randy made a great catch there at the end. Wes had a big third-down catch."

Brady did set a new career-high yesterday in passing yards, increasing his season total to 4,235 -- 320 yards shy of the team record set by Drew Bledsoe in 1994. Brady has thrown for a club-record 45 touchdowns, and is four shy of tying the NFL record set by Manning in 2003.

But TD passes may be increasingly hard to come by as winter weather descends upon New England.

"This is probably the way it's going to be next week, the week after, and the week after that," said Brady. We've had great weather all year, so it's good to get out there and gain some confidence that we can win a game when the conditions aren't really like they've been."

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 6:28 PM | Permalink