FAB 2. Brady Is Having A Pro Bowl Season

If Tom Brady isn’t a good fit in Bruce Arians’ offense, as some talking heads in the national media are trying to suggest, then why do the Bucs have a winning record and why is Brady having such a great season?

How great of a season is Brady having? We teased it in Fab 1, and PewterReport.com’s Jon Ledyard wrote about it on Wednesday. Now let’s dig into the numbers.

Brady has completed 307-of-474 passes (64.8 percent) for 3,300 yards with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, in addition to three rushing scores. With four games left in the 2020 regular season, Brady is on pace to throw for 4,400 yards with 37 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in his first year with Arians and offensive play-caller Byron Leftwich.

That would be the second-most passing yards in a single season in Tampa Bay history, and the most touchdown passes ever in a season by a Bucs quarterback.

That would also be the best first season of any quarterback under Arians, including Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer and Jameis Winston.

Roethlisberger had only a slightly better completion percentage (65.4 percent to 64.8 percent) and slightly fewer interceptions (14 to 11), and Winston threw for more yards (5,109 yards) last year. But Brady is on pace to have more touchdown passes than all of them, and he’s also on pace to get sacked 20 fewer times than Carson Palmer and Andrew Luck (41) did, and 26 fewer times than Roethlisberger and Winston (47) did.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: USA Today

Here are a couple things you may not know about where Brady stacks up against other upper echelon QBs this year. Brady’s 3,300 passing yards are second in the league only to Patrick Mahomes’ 3,497 yards, and ahead of Seattle’s Russell Wilson, who has thrown for 3,216 yards. And Brady’s 28 touchdown passes are fourth in the league behind Aaron Rodgers’ 33, Wilson’s 31, and Mahomes’ 30.

What’s noteworthy about Rodgers, Russell and Mahomes is that have at least two years worth of playing for their head coach. Mahomes and Andy Reid have been together for four seasons. Russell and Seahawks offensive play-caller Brian Schottenheimer have been together for three years. Rodgers and head coach Matt LaFleur have been together for the past two seasons.

“They’ve had some continuity on that side with that system, with those coaches [and] lot of their key veteran players,” Brady said of the Chiefs before Sunday’s 27-24 loss prior to the bye week. “That’s always important – I feel continuity is the most critical aspect to consistent performance because you have to build on year after year, not just game after game or week after week. They’ve been in that system for a while – Coach Reid’s been there for a while [and] he’s a great coach. They do a great job.

Continuity is a big key to success in the NFL. That’s why the combination of Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton has been so good for so long in New Orleans, and why the Saints are en route to winning the division for a fourth-straight year.

“I think there’s a word that Tom uses all the time – continuity,” Leftwich said. “The more we can work together [and] the more we can be in those situations and learn from each other, the better.”

It’s not just that Leftwich, Brady and Arians are still in their first year together.

They’re really in their first half-year together.

What we’re seeing is Brady and this offense trying to come together without the benefit of OTAs, mini-camp and a month-long training camp rather than the truncated two-week camp that didn’t even have a single preseason game.

If you’re wondering why the Bucs offense isn’t farther along after 12 weeks it’s because Brady has only been at the helm for about 15 weeks dating back to training camp – not the 23 weeks the unit should have had at this point with an extra month and a half of on-field work together in the spring with the OTAs and mini-camp, and an extra two weeks of camp.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and OC Byron Leftwich – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“It just takes time,” Arians said. “I think the lack of continuity also hurt him a bunch. Hopefully we can have some continuity going forward and he can continue to work with timing and all those things. I think Byron has done a great job of having him ready to play, him seeing the coverages and where we want to place the ball. [Byron] obviously listens to him on things he likes, also, and incorporates them in the offense.”

Give Brady and the Bucs offense eight extra weeks together before the season starts next year – if this country gets back to normal – and see what happens in 2021.

“I think the lack of practice time and learning everything from spring to camp – it’s still showing up,” Arians said. “Having Scotty [Miller] in there versus A.B. (Antonio Brown) – I don’t think there’s a big difference as far as what we’re doing. It’s just Tom [Brady] seeing different coverages every week – different defenses every week – and managing a game plan that’s so much easier when you have all that practice time. When you have 300 [to] 400 reps with a guy, it’s a big difference than having 20 [to] 30 in practice.”

That’s a legitimate point from Arians when it comes to Brady still getting his timing down with his receivers – even 12 weeks into the season. Chris Godwin has missed three games and a ton of practice time battling a concussion, a hamstring injury and a broken finger. Mike Evans missed a bunch of practice time early in the season with a hamstring injury and an ankle sprain. Miller has missed practice time with hip and groin injuries.

Throw in the fact that new running back Leonard Fournette didn’t arrive until the start of the season and new receiver Antonio Brown didn’t join the team until November and there hasn’t been nearly enough time to get the timing down with either one in the passing game, which is why Fournette is averaging just 6.1 yards per catch, while Brown is only averaging a paltry 8.4 yards per reception. They just don’t know the offense well enough yet, and keep in mind that Fournette missed nearly a month nursing an ankle sprain.

It’s been different for tight end Rob Gronkowski, who has a rapport with Brady dating back to a decade in New England. It took Gronkowski the first month of the season to get the offense down and now we’ve seen him make strides over the last two months from a play-making standpoint.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and TE Rob Gronkowski – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Considering all of this, we should be marveling at how well Brady is playing this year, not lamenting over the mistakes and misfires.

I’m not saying the Bucs aren’t going to do well in the playoffs or that they won’t make the Super Bowl. The first three months of the season in the NFL is for a team to put itself in position to make the playoffs. At 7-5, the Bucs control their postseason destiny. The last month of the season is for teams to get hot and create some momentum heading into the playoffs, and that will be the objective of Brady and the Bucs in December.

“I think football is so much about being in that rhythm and staying in rhythm and finding your rhythm,” Brady said. “I think as we keep going forward, we are learning more and more about ourselves, about what we need to do. Going to get back to work and try and do a lot better of a job the last quarter of the season.”