All eyes in New England are staying locked on Tom Brady’s throwing arm and Thursday showed a closer look at the quarterback’s throwing motion.
Video shot by a photographer for WBZ-TV in Boston documented Brady throwing and shaking out his right arm and elbow during practice three days before the team hosts the Bills with AFC East Division ramifications on the line. An NFL QB shaking out his arm isn’t really noteworthy on its own. Given the season (and the last couple of weeks, really) that Brady has had, it could be worth paying attention to.
The 42-year-old showed up to his postgame press conference two Sundays ago with his right elbow wrapped after losing to the Chiefs. Brady then practiced full go last week before facing the Bengals. But Tuesday, Bill Belichick acknowledged Brady’s limitations in a way the head coach doesn’t usually.
“There have been a couple examples where Tom hasn’t been able to do a lot this year, so that’s given [Jarrett] Stidham an opportunity to go with our first-team group and run our plays and run our offense,” Belichick said according to PatriotsWire. “That’s given Cody [Kessler] a chance to run scout-team plays because Jarrett’s not running those. And again, quarterbacks are always looking for more work, so they’ve taken advantage of it, and it’s helped them.
“You don’t always want to do it that way, but sometimes it’s best to do it that way.”
Brady has missed a few practices this season and been less accurate in games than is his career norm. With two regular-season games left, the veteran quarterback is completing 60.1% of his passes, which is his lowest mark since the 2013 season.