Arm Watch
July 4th, 2021
Before Tom Brady was signed by the Bucs, some Brady observers were questioning what was left of his arm talent.
Joe didn’t think it was a fair assessment because the 2019 film didn’t reveal it. What it did show was Brady throwing to washed out Mohamed Sanu and troubled Josh Gordon (each made six starts), in addition to one-2019-game-wonder Antonio Brown and 39-year-old Ben Watson at tight end, who retired after that season. Brady’s second-rate tight end targets combined for one touchdown.
Sure, Brady had stud receiver Julian Edelman doing his thing on shorter throws in the middle of the field. But Brady’s weapons were bad overall and limited his performance.
Bucs officials studied Brady after the 2019 season and concluded his arm was 100 percent.
Enter ancient Joe Theismann. The former Super Bowl quarterback and game analyst on Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football (Has any other ex-player ever done both?) was talking to The Rich Eisen Show last week and strongly implied the Bucs and the Washington Football Team are clear favorites to meet in the next NFC title game.
Theismann explained he was blown away by Tampa Bay’s offseason.
“In this day and age of money grab, it really caught my eye, very seldom do you see a championship team come back intact,” he said, calling the Bucs defense “great” and Brady fully able to succeed in more than just the 2021 season.
What Theismann is fully keyed on when it comes to Brady is his right arm. He believes that’s the critical tell.
“People wonder what’s [Brady] able to do. Obviously he takes care of himself and all that stuff, but his arm is good,” Theismann said. “As long as you have the ability to throw the football, you can play this game a long time. When the arm goes, that’s the end of the business for you.”
As for that Bucs-WTF inevitable showdown, Theismann says he’s trying to keep his mouth shut and let other NFL analysts speak the truth for him.
“If I say it people will go, ‘Oh, you’re just a homer,”’ he said. “No. All you need is to step back and take a look, this will be a top-3 defense, for sure. And defense wins championships.”
July 4th, 2021 at 10:13 am
I remember people were saying in the playoffs last year the only way that WFT could win is with the amazing defensive line. They got shut down and it was beautiful. That was probably a big motivator for the oline in the playoffs.
July 4th, 2021 at 10:32 am
Tom Brady’s right arm has so much talent, I’m using my golden buzzer!
July 4th, 2021 at 10:36 am
Yes ..it is true that teams with top defenses could win championships solely on the strength of their defense in the past, but in this day and age, because of the rules being slanted towards offensive scoring, it’s important to have a scoring offense as well. Can Fitz provide that ability to help balance the WFT along with their defense to get to the NFL Championship game? Considering how weak the NFC East was last season there’s a possibility, but I think the odds are definitely stacked against them. I don’t think they will.
July 4th, 2021 at 10:47 am
Yeah I don’t see WFT making it far with Fitzy, guys a great backup but not one who’s gonna take you far in the playoffs. If I had to guess right now, I’d go with Bucs vs Rams.
July 4th, 2021 at 11:47 am
Hey All Lives…
KC scored 3 FGs with its baby GOAT QB and a fantastic offense and coaching staff.
July 4th, 2021 at 11:48 am
New England’s sorry-ass collection of WRs and TEs were the absolute worst in the league. Brady looked fine, that terrible collection of “receivers” couldn’t get any separation on the field. The offensive line (normally a New England strength) was also unstable, particularly the patchwork at LT. Actually Brady looked worse the first half of 2018 when his mechanics were off, and many nay-sayers took that as proof that Brady’s arm had deteriorated (which demonstrates how many fans don’t seem to understand this game). He cleaned up his mechanics late season and out-dueled Mahomes during the AFC Championship game.
Brady has it good in Tampa Bay, he has never had a better collection of receivers. While in New England Brady had Gronk in his prime, the only other HOFer was Randy Moss who was at the tail-end of his career. The rest of the guys were middling receivers that were poorly overdrafted, or UDFAs. Collectively these guys weren’t even household names in their own households. But Brady made these motley crews work every season, which is something people don’t realize when they analyze New England’s success in both the regular and postseason.
Brady has a pretty good arm, and to be honest he has lost a bit since, say 2013 which is when the press (including that homer Bill Simmons) declared that Brady was finished. But that arm is still very accurate and he has more than enough arm strength to get the job done. But while arm strength is important, it is Brady’s brain that makes him remarkable, no QB can read defenses like Tommy Boy, and not QB can process the post-snap action on the field as quickly as him either.
July 4th, 2021 at 12:05 pm
I’m not sure Fitz is the right QB to compliment this defense. A great defense needs a solid QB who won’t turn the ball over and give the other team a short field. Fitz is like JW, he can make some great plays that will win you some games, but he will throw other games away with picks.
July 4th, 2021 at 12:37 pm
Fitzpatrick? Might take THAT division again but don’t see WFT as a super bowl team. I’m sticking with my Bucs. GO BUCS!
July 4th, 2021 at 1:42 pm
If Heinicke can play like he did in that WildCard game, he will win that gig over Fitz. I’d like to see that. Thats a good story, dude was out of football and then got his chance, and almost beat the eventual Champs.
July 4th, 2021 at 3:54 pm
did you spell it wtf on purpose?
Is it a nickname?
or were you not referring to the dc team? and wft meant something else?
inquiring minds!
July 4th, 2021 at 6:26 pm
I like Fitz, hope he does well (he HAS improved a fair bit the last couple years) just not against us
July 4th, 2021 at 7:18 pm
I think he meant to put WTF and it was funny.
July 4th, 2021 at 10:28 pm
That’s how you should put their name. All that defense and we still put up 30 points on them. Heinikenman kinda reminds me of Fitz just not as old. It was after that game the defense kind of got exposed. They’re opportunistic but had a hard time getting off the field at times. Hopefully with Brady fully efficient in the offense and in tune with his play makers, we’ll be seeing alot of 10-14 play drives ending in touchdowns, so the defense isn’t on the field as much.
July 4th, 2021 at 10:33 pm
I’m waiting for a talking head to accidently say “WTF football team” instead of “Washington Football team”. That would be priceless!
July 5th, 2021 at 1:01 am
Fitzpatrick ain’t taking nothing he played on 9 different teams and still never did nothing. I think Washington is tanking because Fitzpatrick is there quarterback.