Breaking down the three touchdown passes from Tom Brady in the first half of Super Bowl LV

Tom Brady threw for three touchdowns in the first half of Super Bowl LV. Here is a film breakdown of each scoring play.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves with a lead at halftime of Super Bowl LV. Thanks to some penalties on the Kansas City Chiefs – some more reasonable than others – the Buccaneers were able to capitalize on the Kansas City mistakes and put three touchdowns on the board in the first half.

Here’s a look at how each of the touchdowns came together.

The first came on a quick throw from Tom Brady to tight end Rob Gronkowski in the left flat, working off a play-action fake to the running back:

The design of this play creates the space for Gronkowski in the flat. Wide receiver Mike Evans slices inside on a slant route, which draws the attention of the defense. As does the run fake on the inside, to Leonard Fournette. As Evans slants to the inside, he creates traffic for the defenders trying to keep pace with Gronkowski, and the big tight end has space to operate after the catch. Gronkowski is able to beat the defenders to the front pylon for the score.

You can see the space that is created on this angle, leading to the first touchdown of Super Bowl LV:

The second touchdown, which came after an offsides penalty on the Kansas City field goal block team gave the Buccaneers a fresh set of downs, was a vintage job by Brady of freezing the defense, combined with a great route by Gronkowski. As you can see from this first angle, Brady had the time to move the safety in the middle of the field, before coming to the right to find his tight end:

Thanks to the lovely dots, we can see exactly when Gronkowski makes his cut against Charvarius Ward, creating just enough separation from the defender. Brady spots that and the throw is made with perfect timing and velocity for the score:

You can also see Brady’s job of manipulation from this end zone view of the play:

The third touchdown – another great opportunity for Tampa Bay set up by a penalty on the Chiefs – comes courtesy of a great route from Antonio Brown. The receiver starts to the outside before angling to the middle of the field, and Brady puts this throw in the perfect spot, low and away from the leverage of the nearest defender:

This play is simply executed to perfection.

There is a lot of football left to be played, but so far the Buccaneers – and their quarterback Tom Brady – have been near-perfect.