Pliability - Tom Brady’s Defiance of Father Time
Reviewing Tom Brady’s’ historic age 43 season concluding as a 7 time Super Bowl champion
The day is April 16th 2000, it is the sixth round of the NFL draft and the New England Patriots select Tom Brady with the 199th pick. Twenty one years, 7 Super Bowl trophies, 3 MVP awards, 230 wins and 17 division titles later, Brady is widely regarded as the greatest football player to ever lace up a pair of cleats. Perhaps the greatest achievement of his illustrious career might be the season he was able to put together as a 43 year old in an entirely new conference and offense for the first time of his NFL career.
2020 Stats
65.7% completion percentage, 4,633 yards (289 per game), 43 TD’s (3 rushing), 12 INT’s 0.274 EPA per play, 0.167 EPA+CPOE composite, 92.4 PFF Grade.
Not only are those statistics impressive in a league average sense, but they are even more impressive given the variables of Tom Brady’s situation. He, admittedly, was not well versed in the playbook until around halfway through the season.
“Exciting, scary — I was anxious,” Brady said. “I wanted to get to work, there was a pandemic. We couldn’t even meet as coaches and players. I was getting anxious I wasn’t going to know the playbook. Training camp started, I barely knew the plays. And midway through the year, I was still trying to figure out how to call plays.
After the lackluster 2019 season, public perception had flipped on Brady. Labeling him washed, and proclaimed he had finally fell off of that cliff. Brady had done the complete opposite. He silenced the noise by hoisting his seventh Lombardi trophy in February, and in my opinion, proved he was still an elite NFL quarterback.
Film Study
The Bruce Arians vertically threatening passing attack is predicated on finding the best matchup on the field when facing man coverage. Something that Tom Brady has done exceptionally well in his time as a Patriot. Whenever Brady saw Gronkowski matched up on someone he deemed a favorable matchup, he gave him a chance. When in those situations, the quarterback needs to have pinpoint accuracy to assure that his receiver is the only player that can have an impact on the outcome of the play. At 43, Brady has not lost that ability.
The Bucs call Ohio to the left, and DBL In to the right. The main read is to work the DBL In, but Brady sees post snap Washington is showing a one high shell and knows where he is getting the ball. he takes the low snap, quickly resets and without stepping into the throw delivers a beauty to a place only Mike Evans can make a play on it.
Another example here of the same precedent. Brady has always been one of the top quarterbacks in the league consistently at throwing along that “red line”.
Arians calls a Switch concept to the left to attack the Saints’ heavy one-high gameplan keying in on Godwin and Evans. Brady sees the FS leaning heavily to the strong side, meaning he has an isolated opportunity to the boundary. There is no need to look off the safety as he has too much ground to cover just to be in the vicinity of the ball. Brady throws it to Tyler Johnson’s back shoulder and he makes a great catch.
Arians calls his DBL Go concept (https://alexbyrne.substack.com/p/bucs-pass-install) with a very creative wrinkle. The Z receiver is lined up outside, then motioned to the slot to ensure Antonio Brown’s defender was forced to play inside leverage vs an outside release go. Brady looks to the weak side of the play to hold the FS and influence him away from the throw, and fires a 43 yard bomb on a rope.
This call is simply four verticals. As the ball is snapped Brady influences the FS away from the throw and at the top of his drop whips back to Gronkowski and puts the ball in the perfect place.
The most shocking aspect of Tom Brady’s game was his arm strength. You’d expect for someone who wasn’t particularly known for a strong arm (not to say it was below average, it was well above average) to watch his arm strength wither away due to age and no fault of his own, but it didn’t. In fact, his arm never a problem during the year. He still had enough zip to fit the ball into tight windows.
Tom Brady’s 2020 season was incredible. He made every throw, in every spot, in every game. He took the outside noise and channeled it into his chase for perfection. Off of name alone, there will be people jumping through hoops to try and discredit him and what he has done, showcasing an impeccable amount of mental gymnastics, but make no mistake about it, Tom Brady is still an elite NFL quarterback.