Shackled to his worst season of the decade and perhaps the worst offensive personnel he's ever had, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was seen on the sidelines giving an impassioned pep talk to his anonymous group of wide receivers during New England’s Sunday Night Football game versus the Houston Texans.
Early in the second quarter after a Patriots punt, audio was picked up of Brady sitting on the bench and trying to rally the offense:
“HEY GUYS, WE GOTTA PICK THINGS UP. WE GOTTA BE FASTER, QUICKER, MORE EXPLOSIVE, EVERYTHING. WE’RE TOO F**KING ROBOTIC, ALRIGHT?? MAKE A QUICK POST. LET’S BE AGGRESSIVE OFF THE BALL. EVERY SUM’B*TCH. LET’S GO! GRIND THIS F*CKER OUT!”
Brady would go on to throw three touchdowns after the exchange with his battery mates, but the Patriots would lose 28-22 to the Texans in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score.
Since Rob Gronkowski’s retirement and Antonio Brown’s disgraceful exodus, much has been said about the Patriots bungling group of skill positions that is a who’s-who cast of characters behind distinguished veteran Julian Edelman. After Edelman’s 124 targets, 82 receptions, and 915 yards, the next most productive wide receiver on the team is Phillip Dorsett, who only has 28 receptions on 48 targets, and 347 yards.
Brady is on pace for 4,357 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and has a completion percentage of 61.1%. That would come out to his lowest touchdown total since 2008 when he was injured for the season in Week 1, his lowest completion percentage since 2013, and his lowest yards per game total since 2013 as well.
The audio came just a few weeks after it was falsely rumored and erroneously speculated on Twitter that Brady had used the n-word when greeting Baltimore Ravens Hall of Famer Ed Reed.