Better Tom Brady?
June 22nd, 2021
Projection for 2021.
Look, Joe cannot think of any athlete at 44 who is actually better than he was at 43.
To be clear, Joe cannot think of many elite professional athletes outside of pitchers Nolan Ryan and Phil Niekro (17-4 at 43!) who were any good at 43.
Joe, of course, saw Jaromir Jagr have excellent full seasons for the Florida Panthers at 43 and 44, but Joe didn’t see Gordie Howe play professional hockey at 44. Howe had his worst season in the NHL at 42, sat out a year and then tore up the WHA to play with his sons in Hartford. (The WHA was like the USFL to the NFL. A handful of stars and scrubs.)
So could Tom Brady, at 44, actually improve on his Super Bowl-winning season with the Bucs?
Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com seems to think so. As Smith pointed out, Brady had surgery on his knee this offseason. What if his knee if fully recovered or better?
In addition to improved health, Brady already is comfortable in the playbook than he was a year ago, but he could also be more comfortable moving around. That certainly can’t hurt his game that already was pretty great in 2020.
Joe doesn’t think it is outrageous to project Brady having a better year. Sure, Smith has a solid point that Brady’s knee might actually be improved.
Remember: Not only does Brady claim he didn’t know Bucco Bruce Arians’ playbook until late-November, he now has experience throwing to his teammates, which were all new to him last year.
So long as Father Time doesn’t come knocking, it’s not a stretch to suggest Brady could be better this fall. And he was damn good last year.
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:11 am
the entire team will be better….the coaches will coach better…
#bradyeffect
GO BUCS!!!!!
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:24 am
If Brady is kept upright, then he will function at a higher level simply because of familiarity with the players and the offense and overall continuity of the team.
And something that is kind of under the radar as far as the national media is concerned is the fact that the Bucs have now incorporated the Shotgun.
The Shotgun is Brady’s comfort zone, look out NFL defenses!!!
The Master, and 7 ring GOAT is going put the hammer down baby.
GO BIG BAD AZZ WORLD CHAMPION BUCS!!!!!
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:27 am
The two biggest flaws that Brady needs to clean up:
1. His tendency to throw up a prayer when a DL was a tenth of a second from hitting him. It was particularly bad if the pocket collapsed from the interior. Just throw it out of bounds Tom. The risk reward ratio ain’t there.
2. He sometimes didn’t throw off of his left foot. Usually he does, but last season there were times last season that he floated passes whenever he didn’t step into the throw.
I think the left knee had a lot to do with #2.
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:32 am
I can picture it is realistic that cohesion among all the team members, along with inspiration as they advance from last season will boost game playing. You can add Self-confidence and drive, combined with honor of Team Leadership all contributing to performance.
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:37 am
All should see progress. Return man and Gio should be fun to watch.
So many pluses, an undefeated season is not a fantasy. Since the Dolphins did it back in the day, the 2021 Bucs have the best odds to accomplish this.
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:54 am
Drew Brees led his team to the NFC South title and the playoffs with greatly diminished skills. I think Brady could play to 50 before he looks like Brees did last year.
June 22nd, 2021 at 11:04 am
This is Tom Brady’s offense, not booze arians. You people still believe it was a meeting of the minds? Arians offense is antiquated and somewhat silly, no risk it no biscuit. Brady was taught the exact opposite. Take what the defense gives you, live to fight another down, and get the ball out of your hands. These are things that run contrary to the booze arians playbook. you saw what he looked like playing arians offense, uncomfortable and confused. It’s a stupid way to play offense anyway. It’s why booze arians hadn’t won jack until the goat scrapped his offense and taught him how to coach
June 22nd, 2021 at 11:16 am
The knee scares me.
Last year several HOF QBs said age creeps in when your legs give out. All offseason we saw TB12 doing leg workouts so I was encouraged. Surgery means less leg days. I’m a little nervous. I’d keep TB12 out until he’s 100% back.
June 22nd, 2021 at 11:17 am
@Ben green
Pretty much my assessment too, you could see the dramatic change in the second half of that first Atlanta game. First half was the stagnant, predictable, antiquated vertical game that the late Al Davis loved, the second half was the horizontal attack which exploited weaknesses throughout the entire field. Backfield players were in motion too, forcing the defense to reveal man or zone and intent.
Give credit to Arians though, most football coaches are very inflexible. Arians decided to give Brady some latitude in what looked like a losing game. After Atlanta, he realized that it was best to let Brady play to his strengths rather than being constrained to “no risk it, no biscuit.” The horizontal attack sets up those fly and post routes anyway, it can actually makes the defense vulnerable if you mix in some “no risk it, no biscuit” play calls.
June 22nd, 2021 at 11:40 am
Both things are in BAs offense. Horizontal and vertical. Both are in the same play many times. It’s not like the whole team learned a new offense mid season. They didn’t change offenses. Maybe incorporated a little more play action and motion as the season moved along and Brady got more comfortable. They did not switch offenses. Completely false narrative. The offense progressed. No way in hades is a whole team learning a new offense mid season. Now, I’m sure Brady was picking the plays he liked in game plan meetings.
June 22nd, 2021 at 12:05 pm
i am laughing that a poster here is literally posting the flaws of a 7 time super bowl winning qb. lol wow!
June 22nd, 2021 at 12:08 pm
1). Receivers and tight ends had better chemistry half way thru the season
2). Brady has two knees to push off now with recent surgery
3). He has a receiving back who can catch that brady can dump off too when getting pressured / down field coverage good
I think so…shoot gronk and AB (options 3 and 4) sat out a year before last season. Took several gAmes to get in football shape. Wont be needed this year.
June 22nd, 2021 at 12:17 pm
Am I the only one thinking we did a fair bit of shotgun early in the season, without remarkable results? When we moved to more play-actions (which TB12 seems more comfortable with) is when we finally had consistent success
June 22nd, 2021 at 12:44 pm
Pretty sure that M’Fer’ TB12 was referring to is Nick Foles… Brady absolutely hates that lucky no talent hack🤣
June 22nd, 2021 at 12:55 pm
I don’t need better. Just repeat!
June 22nd, 2021 at 2:08 pm
@Robert – well said.
I never get the hate on Arians offense on this site.
I agree with the fans that think it was a meeting of Brady, Arians, and Leftwich at the end of this year that made this offense good.
The one thing, I tend to think almost all on this site are forgetting is that all off season long, there have been good coaches breaking down what the Buc’s did well offensively last year. They are adapting. So those that think we are easily going to be better offensively are just acting like it will be easy because the team (players and coaches) have more time together. Just like coaches adapted to Chip Kelly and Michael Vick, Sean McVay and Jared Goff, John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson, they will be adapting to our offense this year.
Can we be better? Sure. Can at points – we look not as good because other teams have successfully adapted – just as sure. All I care about is at playoff time being that team that can run the gamut again. With Arians, Leftwich, Bowles and the players – I believe in this team.
June 22nd, 2021 at 2:42 pm
Joe whats cool is you didnt give any football examples. I think you have to go back to the leather helmet days to find some examples.
With all the recent rules changes it does give modern QBs a chance to go so long but if we use Drew Bress as an example it might be a long time til we see somebody really thrive at 44 years old like Tom is. Drew really detoriated in his final few years.
June 22nd, 2021 at 2:54 pm
Passing through…..Actually what happened in that Atlanta game was that the Bucs had issues most of the 1st half with protection up front. The 2nd half we figured it out and the Falcons couldnt get near Brady.
This is a credit to our coaching…..and also to Brady calling out protection at the line.
Like dude Im sorry but there arent no magical playbook that has unstoppable plays. Try to remember the movie about the Waterboy was fiction.
Also if you pay attention from that Falcons game all the way through the SuperBowl Brady set back and looked for biscuits in each and every game. I wont say we didnt adjust some of our playcalling but this still is the Biscuit offense.
June 22nd, 2021 at 3:07 pm
@JimmyJack
Thanks for the strawman argument, I never mentioned that there was a fail-proof playbook. On the same token, I’m waiting for you to publish Arian’s Biscuit offense playbook which you so cite as proof.
Oh yeah, that’s a strawman argument too.
June 22nd, 2021 at 3:51 pm
Passing through. OK fair enough. But I presented more then the strawman stuff. In case you didnt noticed I dedicated a whole paragrapgh to refuting youre recollection of the Atlanta game. Kinda lame to not even mention the actual point I made against you.
And Ill admitt the Waterboy comment was a bit out of line. You didnt deserve that based on what you said. I was simply using your comment as a sounding board for the fans that actually do think there are magical playcalls that are unstoppable. Trust me, I read most of the comments here. Fans like that actually exist……..But it was unfair for me to say that to you. Next time i will write a seperate comment.
June 22nd, 2021 at 3:52 pm
The QB goes back to pass…..no, he doesnt pass, he fakes the pass…..no he doest fake it, he fakes that hes going to fake it…….no he thinks about faking it.
June 22nd, 2021 at 4:36 pm
Hoyt Wilhelm?
June 22nd, 2021 at 6:05 pm
Hey. Pay attention! TB12 gets better every game…OK, every play. And that includes losses and picks.
June 22nd, 2021 at 10:20 pm
@JimmyJack
It’s all good. In my view the resultant system was quite a bit like what Brady used in New England which was more of a horizontal attack, with a bit more play action and deep pass plays. That’s why I complimented Arians for being flexible, too many football coaches from high school on up to the pros are anything but flexible. There was some hybridization, and it obviously worked out great for Tampa Bay.
June 23rd, 2021 at 7:09 am
I doubt many plays, if any, were added. So it is the same offense. But the plays being called were increasingly what suited Brady. Every offense has play action, etc., you just got to call it mire often to take advantage of Brady’s strengths.
June 24th, 2021 at 7:58 am
How about 50 TDs. 5500 yds with 17 games. Arm strength the same. Eyesight the same. Reaction and decision times the same. Tighter with the receivers and backs. Knows the playbook inside out. Completely healthy. The Boss