It's not Jets week but that doesn't mean you can't tweak the Jets even if that wasn't necessarily the intention. During his weekly radio appearance on WEEI, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was speaking glowingly of his diminutive running back Danny Woodhead who scored two touchdowns in the team's 37-31 win over the Bills on Sunday.
And in doing so, he also wondered how the Jets (a team woefully short on playmakers, by the way) could cut Woodhead, which is exactly what happened in 2010.
"He's been that way since the day he got here," Brady said. "I remember his first game against -- we played Buffalo at home. I think it was the third game of the season. He had a similar-type run play for a touchdown. We kind of joked on the sideline, (former offensive coordinator) Billy (O'Brien) and I, we kind of said, 'The legend is born.' We saw him that week in practice, what he was capable of doing, and said, 'Why did the Jets release that guy?' They had him playing receiver and he was a running back in college.
"He's just come in and done such a great job. He's the ultimate team player and teammate -- dependable, consistent, you always know the level of play you're getting from Danny."
And, really, that's all you looking for. Unless you're the Jets. (To be fair, New York wasn't the hapless sad sacks you see today; the team would make their second consecutive trip to the AFC Championship game in 2010. Of course, the wheels fell off in 2011 -- they went 8-8 -- and 2012 has been an unmitigated disaster.)
The Patriots face the upstart Colts this week, a team went 2-14 a year ago and now sits at 6-3 thanks in part to rookie quarterback Andrew Luck. But Indy's defense, which was a punchline last season, has also made a huge turnaround.
"It's a different scheme than we played against," Brady said. "(First-year coach) Chuck Pagano kind of brought in a new defensive system. It's more of a Baltimore-based system. They're going to be very challenging. The thing that they do well, as they've always done, is rush the passer. You won't have a lot of time to sit back there and figure things out. With [Dwight] Freeney and [Robert] Mathis, they've got some guys inside that can rush, they traded for Vontae Davis early in the year, they still have a Pro Bowl safety in Antoine Bethea. They're very talented -- they're 6-3, what more can you say about that? They're playing well."
