🏈 Is This Finally The End Of Tom Brady?

The Patriots quarterback has proved the naysayers wrong again and again over the years. Proclaim his demise at your own risk. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: It is once again “doubt Tom Brady” season, a perennial event ... the wild life of Josh McCown ... and a jam-packed NBA evening offers some intriguing matchups. There has been speculative assertion related to Tom Brady’s supposed decline (if not his outright quarterbacking demise) plenty of times before — all of those instances proving to be wildly inaccurate false alarms. He was supposed to be primed for a dip on countless occasions. You remember them; when the rumors swirled that time was catching up and that the New England Patriots’ dream window was readying to slam shut. The whispers have come for Brady in off-seasons, preseasons and regular seasons, after defeats and victories alike, amid supposed quarterback competitions and even on birthdays, as the six-time Super Bowl winner defies age simply by still being employed in football. And now, with defending world champions New England sat at 10-2, tied for the best record in the National Football League, and behind only the Baltimore Ravens as the odds-on favorite to win it all once more (the Pats are currently at +400 [on FOX Bet]( to win the Super Bowl, with the Ravens at +260), the naysayers are coming for Brady again. Will it be different this time? Is this finally the beginning of the end, the one that really counts after all those beginnings-of-the-end that were actually just new beginnings? Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans wasn’t pretty, saw the Patriots surrender presumptive home field advantage in the AFC, and was the catalyst for a fresh wave of doubt. Or is Brady primed to act as the great silencer of skepticism again, rebounding from a patchy few weeks for the Patriots offense to lead the team to more postseason glory? [STORY IMAGE 1] “I don’t think anyone’s happy when we lose, except for the people that are rooting against us,” Brady told Westwood One. “I’m sure there’s quite a few of those. We’ve lost games in the past, I’ve lost games in the past, and as much as it hurts to lose, you have to keep it in perspective and realize the place we’re at the in the season. You can’t let it discourage you from waking up the next day and working hard, and hopefully it refocuses us and makes us work even harder.” Admirable words ... yet the truth is there is a bit of a different feel about Brady’s struggles this campaign. The backbone of the team this season has been New England’s marauding, swashbuckling, seemingly irrepressible defense, and that unit’s performance level has obscured difficulties elsewhere. FS1’s Nick Wright [pointed out on]( [First Things First]( that Brady this season is 26th in yards per attempt among NFL quarterbacks, 29th in completion percentage and 21st in passer rating, with numbers far behind the San Francisco 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo and Indianapolis Colts QB Jacoby Brissett — both of whom were moved on from New England. “You’ve got a 42-year-old quarterback who looks like it,” Wright said. “A QB that is in the bottom third of the league in every major category, whose defense is playing great, who has to win a very specific style of football. I understand, because he is the GOAT, we make excuses. Great quarterbacks make it work. Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever, but he is, right now, not a great quarterback.” The Patriots schedule is one of the league’s coziest this season, with five of their first seven wins coming against the New York Jets (twice), New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins. Things aren’t much tougher the rest of the way, except that this weekend’s home clash with the Kansas City Chiefs will see Brady square off against Patrick Mahomes, widely seen as the heir apparent of quarterback greatness — Lamar Jackson’s superb season in Baltimore notwithstanding. A win there, and some measure of normalcy will have been restored. A defeat, potentially putting the Patriots on shaky ground in terms of playoff seeding with the Buffalo Bills refusing to go away in the AFC East, and a few more alarmists will start sounding their bells. The Patriots are favorited to win the matchup, at -162 on the money line and favored to win by three points as of Wednesday morning, [according to FOX Bet](. [STORY IMAGE 2] “When you talk about Mahomes and Brady, you certainly have to factor in the defense they are playing,” former All-Pro Philadelphia Eagles star [Brian Westbrook said on]( [First Things First]( . “I have no faith in Kansas City and this new defense that has produced a bunch of turnovers. I am not sure they can do that, going into Foxborough and winning there. I would take Brady over Mahomes because of who (the Chiefs) have to go against.” Brady was visibly frustrated during the Texans game, caught on camera flinging his helmet in anger, then shouting in the direction of his young receivers on the sidelines. He doesn’t have the same quality of players to aim at these days, relying on Julian Edelman, James White, Sony Michel, Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry and Matt LaCosse as his primary targets. There is no Rob Gronkowski, off into retirement and last seen dancing with Laker Girls. There is no Josh Gordon, because that didn’t work out ... and no Antonio Brown, because that really didn’t work out. And still … 10-2. “You know what competitors do?” three-time Super Bowl champion [Mark Schlereth told FS1’s]( For Yourself](. “They compete. (Brady) is the ultimate competitor. It takes far more courage for a guy to continue to play even though he is not at his best. What I don’t understand is the desire that everybody has to bury Tom Brady.” There is animosity towards the Patriots; of course there is. They’ve earned that vitriol and they should wear it like a trophy. That’s what happens when you’re that good for that long. Given his track record and how many times his obituary has been written before, Brady deserves the benefit of the doubt — for now. But despite New England’s record, the numbers don’t lie, even if they deceive a little bit. The doubt is there for a reason, until Brady, once again, can prove otherwise. [STORY IMAGE 3] Here’s what others have said ... Bill Speros, Boston Herald: “We see truth in Angry Brady. He is us yelling at our children for not doing their homework when he unloads on Phillip Dorsett and N’Keal Harry. When the anger has abated, he will tell you how much he ‘loves’ playing with Dorsett and Harry and how hard they work. But these younger players are not Brady’s kids. And it’s not his job to teach them how to do their jobs.” Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY: “In some regards, the Patriots have it set up just like we’ve seen it before. As much as it’s natural to desire something fresh and new — like Jackson, the Saints escaping more postseason heartbreak or Russell Wilson without The Legion of Boom — they’ll have a chance. These seasons are always works in process. Part of Belichick’s wisdom is the resourcefulness to craft teams year-to-year, with week-to-week twists, given situational circumstances.” Christian D’Andrea, SB Nation: “There can be some debate as to whether Brady’s sudden decline has affected his runners or if their inability to counterpunch against opposing defenses has limited the New England passing game. The most likely explanation is that neither side is playing up to expectations. And there are some plausible reasons behind that. But he’s still Tom Brady. He’s still playing with Bill Belichick. Buy into his demise at your own risk.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - [Chris Ballard at]( [Sports Illustrated]( goes inside the Reno Experiment: a boundaries-pushing basketball “lab” created by the Sacramento Kings. - You wouldn’t peg him as one of the country’s best basketball players, but Nico Mannion can’t avoid stardom anymore. [David Gardner at Bleacher Report]( profiles the Arizona freshman. - Josh McCown is currently quarterbacking for the Eagles and a coach at Myers Park High School in Charlotte. [Tim McManus at ESPN]( takes you through 24 hours of flights, games, and a dedicated dad. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( Jimmy Butler is a man of simple pleasures, and it seems that one of those pleasures is an intense desire to form a cheerleading pyramid with his Miami Heat teammates Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. The above clip from a SLAM magazine cover photo session is simply delightful, with Butler insisting they must strike the pose he had in mind. You can see much, much more from [behind the scenes at their]( [cover shoot here]( which is highly recommended. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] WWE NXT (USA Network, 8 p.m. ET) After betrayal most foul at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Rhea Ripley will get a singles match to try and seek payback on Dakota Kai for leaving her team injured and stranded. No. 6 Ohio State at No. 7 North Carolina (ESPN, 9:30 p.m. ET) Two absolute powerhouses in men’s basketball will tangle on Wednesday night. Consider this an appetizer for the Buckeyes’ Big Ten Championship game on the gridiron on Saturday. Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz (NBA TV, 9 p.m. ET) The Lakers have been the best in the league, but the Jazz also figure to be a playoff team this season. Watch two of the best in the West collide in an early December treat of a matchup. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Milwaukee Bucks (-7.5), Boston Celtics (-6.5), & Minnesota Timberwolves (+3.5) all to cover: +700 Nick Wright’s Bet Boost of the day is this three-team cover parlay which offers an intriguing proposition ... and has the added benefit of getting you more invested in a swath of NBA games tonight. The Bucks are on the road against the Pistons, the Celtics are at home against the Heat, and the T-Wolves are on the road against the Mavericks. The Celtics game might be the most dicey to cover, as the Heat just knocked off the Raptors in overtime last night in Toronto ... but then again, they may be tired out from a long night and back-to-back road games. [WHAT THEY SAID] "One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation." — Arthur Ashe [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download the FOX Sports app for live scores and streaming [App Store]( [Google Play]( Available on: [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] Forwarded this message? [Sign up](. Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2019 FOX Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. 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