Take a look at Tom Brady's stats for his six full seasons in the NFL.
Year | G | GS | Att | Comp | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
2001 | 15 | 14 | 413 | 264 | 63.9 | 2843 | 18 | 12 | 86.5 |
2002 | 16 | 16 | 601 | 373 | 62.1 | 3764 | 28 | 14 | 85.7 |
2003 | 16 | 16 | 527 | 317 | 60.2 | 3620 | 23 | 12 | 85.9 |
2004 | 16 | 16 | 474 | 288 | 60.8 | 3692 | 28 | 14 | 92.6 |
2005 | 16 | 16 | 530 | 334 | 63.0 | 4110 | 26 | 14 | 92.3 |
2006 | 16 | 16 | 516 | 319 | 61.8 | 3529 | 24 | 12 | 87.9 |
That is amazingly - almost unbelievably -- consistent. The one year that stands out is 2005, when he shot up to a career high in passing yards. That was due to the running game though; Corey Dillon only started ten games and the Pats were forced to utilize Patrick Pass and Heath Evans at RB. Their team rushing yardage dropped a whopping 29% from the year before.
Through several running backs, through the rise and fall of Deion Branch, through about a dozen tight ends, Tom Brady keeps putting up the same stats. Why? Because that's the way Bill Belichick likes it dammit! The Pats run their offense like a well-oiled machine and as long as all the pieces are playing, the offense will continue to run.
Will the addition of Randy Moss change that? I say it won't. Even if the Pats were getting vintage Randy Moss I don't think that they change what's been working. Considering they're getting a physically and perhaps mentally banged up Randy Moss, they're definitely not going to change. Sure, we'll see more long passes and Brady's yardage totals may tick up a bit from last year, but I don't think there's anyway he gets close to the 4110 yards he put up in 2005. If you're drafting Brady thinking he's going to put up 4000+ passing yards, I think you're buying into the hype.