Tag: tom brady antonio brown

Why Tom Brady’s 61-yard TD to Antonio Brown is one of his greatest throws

Tom Brady’s 61-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown against the Dolphins was yet another example of his greatness.

Sometimes, when I watch Tom Brady throw the ball, I’m reminded of what former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood once said about Stan Musial, his teammate for years, and one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. Musial would get his 3-5 hits every game, and Flood once asked Musial how he was able to do it.

“Well, Curt, you wait for a strike, and then you knock the heck out of it,” Musial replied. As if it were that easy for mere mortals.

There are too many preposterous Brady throws to accurately catalog at this point in time, but when you see a 44-year-old quarterback beat the Dolphins’ blitz for a 62-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown as he did with 11:01 left in the first half.

The play is impressive enough from the broadcast angle, but when you see it from the end zone shot, you see how great it really is.

Brady faced extreme pressure as the Dolphins ran a blitz right up the middle, and Brown was running a crosser with cornerback Xavien Howard all over him. Brady had to trust Brown here, because there was coverage over the middle, so Brady’s view was obscured. Plus, he had to time the throw to the blitz. Brady not only did that, but he put the ball precisely where Brown could get to it, and Howard (one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL) could not. It was one of the best throws of his career, and historic for his tenure with the Buccaneers.

It’s not breaking news that Tom Brady is a ridiculous quarterback, but this particular throw is just the most recent example of why this is the case.

Oh… and Brady came back to Brown with this four-yard touchdown pass with 1:48 left in the first half in which he made another tight-window throw at Howard’s expense.

Tom Brady nearly lost career passing yardage record one play after he set it

One play after Tom Brady broke Drew Brees’ all-time passing yardage mark, he very nearly lost it.

It was of course poetic that Tom Brady broke Drew Brees’ NFL record for passing yardage in a career against the Patriots. That happened on a 28-yard pass from Brady to receiver Mike Evans, and at that point, Brady had 80,359 yards to Brees’ 80,358. It took a second for the officials to figure out where the ball should be spotted, so we didn’t know at first that Brady had broken the record, but eventually, the officials made it… official.

The Buccaneers took a timeout after that, and on the Buccaneers’ next play from scrimmage, Brady threw a quick receiver screen to Antonio Brown. Cornerback Jonathan Jones was all over it, and were it not for the efforts of receiver Chris Godwin, who got a hand on Jones and moved him out of the way, Brown could have easily lost yardage on the play.

It would have been an inauspicious follow-up to Brady’s command of yet another all-time record. Today, we warned the Steelers about the futility of flat passes to running back Najee Harris, and the same might be said of quick passes behind the line of scrimmage from Brady to Brown.