Arizona is perfect place for Brady to get hot again

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The New England Patriots are like an Eskimo who excels at surfing. Or a Hawaiian who's a great downhill skier. They are a team that is out of its element in the prevailing elements. They are a cold-weather team that plays its best in warm weather. What the Patriots do best is throw the football, and it's always better to pass the proverbial pigskin when it's sunny and warm and the air is gentle than when it's 23 degrees and wind gusting out of the northwest at around 20 mph, creating a wind chill of 9. Or did you think it was a coincidence that Tom Brady had his worst game of the season in the worst weather conditions he has played in all year? "I don't think we executed as well as I thought we were capable," Brady said Sunday night after throwing a season-high three interceptions in New England's 21-12 victory over stubborn San Diego that sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven years. "I'm glad we have the week off here to regroup a little bit and try to elevate our game for one last performance. Whoever it is we're playing (he didn't know at the time it would be the Giants), it's going to be the toughest game of the season. I'm glad it's warm weather." Bring on the heat, says Brady, meaning the Arizona sunshine, not the Giants' fearsome pass rush. In a record-setting season, Brady was hottest when the weather was warm. Through the first eight games, he threw 30 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. He threw for at least three TDs in each of those eight games. He threw for four against Buffalo, five against the NFC East-champion Cowboys and six at Miami, and didn't throw a single interception in any of those three games. However, in the second half of the season, in November and December, Brady's numbers slipped to 20 TDs and six interceptions. In January, in the playoffs, he has three interceptions and four TD passes. It was funny to hear from someone who spent time with the Jaguars shortly after the team plane arrived in New England for the AFC semifinal playoff game that Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio was complaining about the weather. Too warm, he moaned. No snow, he complained. In a classic bit of role reversal, it was the Jags who were hoping for bad weather in hopes that swirling snow would keep Brady from hurling the football all over the field. Those concerns proved justified in light of the fact that, in near-perfect conditions for mid-January in Foxboro -- 37 degrees, only a mild breeze -- Brady was nearly perfect in his passing, completing 26 of 28 attempts (including one dropped pass) for three touchdowns, without an interception. The Jaguars came in wanting to play smash-mouth football -- to pound away at the New England defense with running backs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. By doing so, they felt they could eat up the clock and keep the ball away from Brady and the record-setting Patriots offense. With Brady throwing for an NFL-record 50 touchdowns -- 23 of them to Randy Moss, which also is a league record -- the Patriots became the most prolific point producers in pro football history, racking up 589 during the regular season. Long gone are the days when a team had to "establish the run" before turning to the pass. These days, the Patriots are likely to open the game with four, or even five, receivers, and nary a running back in the formation. Although Laurence Maroney looks better running the ball with each game, it is Brady's accuracy, his ability to read -- and pick apart -- a defense that causes opposing teams to quiver and quake. And so it helps when, as was the case Sunday, the cold makes it harder to grip the ball and to catch it; when the gusting winds can cause even a hard, tight spiral to be blown off course, like a wooden sailing ship in a gale and high seas. Because the Patriots are a team that makes plays, not excuses, no one blamed the weather for Brady's sub par performance against the Chargers. "We've all played and coached in a lot worse," Pats coach Bill Belichick said. "It wasn't a balmy day -- I'm not saying that. But it wasn't that bad." It'll be much better in Glendale, Ariz. And that means Brady should be at his best. And, when he is, there's none better -- which is why the Patriots are a game away from going 19-0 and establishing a convincing claim to being the best team in NFL history. In any weather.(Contact Jim Donaldson at jdonalds@projo.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)