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Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison wonders about Tom Brady: 'He’s just not the same player'

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

Maybe this is all just setting up for another “nobody believed in us” run by the New England Patriots.

The Patriots lost their second straight game on Sunday, a rare home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Patriots offense is struggling. Yahoo Sports’ Kimberley Martin wrote all about the issues: the fans booing, the general lack of any offensive cohesion, and yes, the officiating issues too.

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And at the center of it all is quarterback Tom Brady, who people have been waiting for many years to finally show his age. Even a prominent former teammate is wondering if this is the end.

Rodney Harrison sees Tom Brady slipping

Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, a former Super Bowl-winning teammate of Brady’s, has a role on NBC as an analyst. He usually doesn’t pull punches.

When he went on Mike Tirico’s podcast, Harrison put Brady in the center of the Patriots’ issues:

On one hand, this should be obvious.

Of course, Brady is “not the same player.” He’s one of the greatest players in NFL history, and now he’s 42. No quarterback has had any significant success at age 42. We shouldn’t expect him to still be winning MVPs. Every good thing Brady does at his age sets a new bar. When we take that into account, Brady’s season — 3,437 yards, 19 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 86.5 passer rating — really isn’t that bad. In fact, considering the nonexistent track record of 42-year-old quarterback success in NFL history, it’s remarkable. Especially considering that the Patriots lost a ton of offensive skill-position talent around him.

And are we sure we want to count out Brady and the Patriots already?

Patriots have lost two straight

We’ve all been down this road before. Because of Patriots fatigue, we’re all ready to see the end of the dynasty. So Brady brought out a familiar and defiant phrase for this week’s game against the Bengals:

And here we go again. The Patriots now have reason to go back to believing nobody thinks they can win anymore. Brady is dealing with an elbow injury, which will lead to more skepticism, and more ammunition for the Patriots. Brady can crow a bit to the critics in a postgame interview after another inevitable Patriots playoff win. It’s coming. Brace yourselves.

One of these days Brady will fall off. Everyone can’t seem to wait for it to happen, even former teammates.

Quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots lost their second straight game. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots lost their second straight game. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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