When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Tom Brady back in 2020, some wondered whether or not the GOAT would be a good fit for Bruce Arians’ vertical passing game.
Would an aging quarterback in his 40s be able to push the ball down the field as often as Arians wanted, and with the kind of success he would demand of himself?
Turns out, those concerns were greatly exaggerated.
In fact, the year after Brady, Arians, and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich helped lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl victory at the end of that 2020 season, Tampa Bay’s offense led the league in explosive plays in 2021.
Check out this fantastic thread from NFL Network/Next Gen Stats researcher Taylor Kyles on just how effective the Bucs were at generating big plays through the air last season, and how they made it happen in many different ways:
Last season, Tom Brady and the Buccaneer were the only offense to eclipse 70 explosive pass plays, posting a whopping 76 completions of 20+ yards
This thread will break down the concepts that helped Tampa Bay accomplish the ridiculous feat pic.twitter.com/1y1ZIu9tSm
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) May 21, 2022
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