Brady flipping script with Bucs young WRs
Finds winning formula missing with Pats
In a few days, Tom Brady will need a first down in a critical spot.
The Bucs might be trailing or tied with the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. Perhaps Brady will have sputtered at the start of a fourth-quarter comeback. But his options to convert, from a future Hall of Fame tight end to three Pro Bowl wide receivers, will be plentiful.
So whom should he target? Try second-year wideout Scotty Miller or rookie receiver Tyler Johnson.
Miller and Johnson own the second- and third-highest yards per target averages, respectively, on the Bucs, meaning they’ve quietly become two of Brady’s surest weapons. In this respect, they rank ahead of Mike Evans, the team’s No. 1 option by traditional measures. Evans owns more receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns than any Buccaneer, yet the chemistry between him and Brady hasn’t bubbled quite as well as it has with the youngsters.
NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner theorized why on Wednesday.
“I think one of the reasons (Brady)’s had great success with Scotty Miller is because … he’s very consistent with what he does route-running. And so Tom’s very comfortable with him,” Warner said. “A guy like Mike Evans, if you watch him, he’s a little bit more all over the place with his route-running.
“He’s a great player and can make a lot of plays, but a lot more of his game is based on feel than just definitive routerunning.”
All three of Brady’s interceptions in the NFC Championship Game were passes intended for Evans. Meanwhile, his fellow Pro Bowler, Chris Godwin, leads all Bucs wideouts in both yards per target and catch rate. Godwin is an outstanding route-runner.
Brady’s success throwing to Miller and Johnson is a significant departure from his time in New England, where essentially all young receivers failed to consistently connect with him over his last 15 seasons. The best rookie campaign produced by Patriots wideout during the Brady era belonged to Deion Branch in 2002, when Branch caught 43 passes for 489 yards, two touchdowns at 7.2 yards per target.
This season, Miller totaled 501 receiving yards at 9.5 yards per target, plus three touchdowns, not including his score seconds before halftime of the NFC Championship that may have swung the game. While Miller isn’t a rookie, this is his first goround with Brady, and he managed just 13 catches last year in a forgettable debut season. Johnson, who’s earned three starts, grabbed 12 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns during the regular season.
In the playoffs, Brady displayed his trust in Johnson, a former fifth-round pick, by targeting him with a backshoulder throw in the fourth quarter of a tied divisionalround game at New Orleans. Johnson made a spectacular catch, converting a third-and11.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Johnson was hailed as one of the sharpest route-runners of the 2020 draft class. His raw stats, like Miller’s, have been depressed by limited snaps as the team’s fourth or fifth wide receiver. But the fact Brady connected with both of them simultaneously this year, with several other veteran targets available, speaks volumes.
For years, the belief was Brady simply preferred veterans to young players. What he truly preferred was consistency and reliability, rare traits for rookies and secondyear wideouts.
“You give him a guy that’s going to do the same thing every time, I don’t think he’s going to have an issue; whether he’s a rookie or a 10year vet,” Warner said of Brady. “You give him guys that are a little more inconsistent with what they do, and it really messes with a guy that plays the game with timing. And I think we’ve seen that throughout the year.”
There is a significant confounding variable when comparing Brady’s experience with green receivers in New England to Tampa Bay: his mastery of the offensive system. For a time, Brady’s learning curve in the Bucs offense trailed Miller’s and matched Johnson’s. But over the past 10 months, they’ve learned and grown together, as opposed to Brady barking at his receivers to play catch-up, as he did in New England.
Because more than most systems, the Patriots offense relies on a high volume of option routes, which require receivers to read coverage and leverage and adjust midplay, a process that can make them play slower. On the other hand, Tampa Bay’s passing attack is slightly more straightforward.
Johnson said studying the Bucs playbook wasn’t all that complicated coming from college. In fact, he worked to master all three wideout positions, which afforded him more reps in practices and games. Naturally, that grew Brady’s trust in him more quickly.
“It’s wild and it’s still unreal to me that Tom shows me trust on that type of level,” Johnson said Wednesday.
Miller added: “That’s something I’ve tried to do and continuing to try to have him trust me on every single play that I know exactly where I’m going to be. I’m going to win, and then I’m going to make the play on the ball. I think that’s a key piece for any quarterback is just getting on the same page and having him believe in you.”
Based on his history, the feelings for Brady just might be mutual.