Tom Brady Explains Patriots’ Bizarre Final-Drive Formula Vs. Steelers

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots got people confused. The Patriots trailed the Pittsburgh Steelers by seven with just a minute left to play, and went down the field to the Steelers’ 16-yard line with just 44 seconds left. Brady and his teammates could not even the score.

James White was hit for a 5-yard completion, and the Patriots got a holding penalty. Tom Brady threw three incomplete passes, and they went to the end zone. Pittsburgh won.

The quarterback explained the final sequence during his appearance on WEEI’s “Mut and Callahan.”

“You are fighting a couple of things at that point. You’re fighting the clock, so it is hard to throw the ball in the field of play because you’re not sure if you are going to get another play off, even though maybe we could have gotten a first down. We didn’t have enough time, so they kind of fenced the goal-line and I was telling guys to find a place for me to get the ball and put your body in position in between the defender. It’s just a tough play any way you cut it. They had a lot of guys looking at the ball and your guys are trying to run vertical. They played it well,” the quarterback said.

The Patriots lost the game, but Brady was fine with the team’s chances of tying the game.

“Yeah, absolutely. 100 percent. It is disappointing when we don’t and I think we are entirely capable. We had a great opportunity yesterday. We got down. We had the pass to Julian Edelman and then we had a couple of passes to James (White) and got out of bounds. I think it was second-and-5 on the 11. That was a great opportunity. They got a little pressure, I threw it away, and unfortunately, we got the holding call on that one, which I thought I threw it pretty quick. They got some inside pressure and I was just trying to get rid of it and give ourselves another chance. And then,we got pushed back to the 21.”

“Again, at the time we were fighting the clock because any completion in bounds you’re scrambling to run plays. We threw the ball out of the back of the end zone. It was a tough situation and it takes a big-time play to get out of that, and again I think they played it pretty well.”