Tom Brady continues to torment the Falcons.
During the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 44-27 victory Sunday over the Falcons, Brady picked up where he left off from the last time the two teams met and torched the Falcons once again.
Brady completed 26 of 41 passes for 399 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. The lone pick wasn’t Brady’s fault either, as receiver Scotty Miller was unable to haul in a reception after hitting the ground, with the ball deflecting in the air and into safety Ricardo Allen’s hands.
Through his illustrious career, Brady remains undefeated when playing the Falcons. With Sunday’s victory, he improved to a perfect 8-0, which includes the rally he led in Super Bowl LI when he was with the New England Patriots.
In addition, Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris has never defeated Brady during his coaching career, falling to 0-6 all-time against the veteran quarterback.
“He’s a great quarterback,” Morris said. “He certainly makes all the plays he needs to make. We were not able to make enough plays down the stretch.”
During Sunday’s victory, Brady didn’t look like a quarterback who just completed his 21st regular season in the NFL. At 43 years old, Brady looked as sharp as ever. On the opening possession, he completed all three of his passing attempts, which included a perfect 29-yard touchdown throw to receiver Chris Godwin.
In the second half, when the Falcons cut the game to a three-point deficit on two occasions, Brady executed scoring possessions that moved the Buccaneers back up by two scores. Leading 23-20 in the early fourth quarter, Brady marched his team down to the Falcons’ 3-yard line, with running back Ronald Jones punching in a short rushing touchdown. After the Falcons cut the Buccaneers’ lead to 30-27, Brady moved the Buccaneers down the field again, highlighted by a 47-yard completion to Godwin on third-and-12.
Brady capped that drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Godwin to put Tampa Bay up 37-27.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“Tom is cool, calm and collected,” Morris said. “He was able to go down there and lead a couple of really good drives and make a couple of really good plays. The big-time play he made on third down and extra long was phenomenal. A great throw, a great catch by Godwin.”
Following a Falcons’ turnover after Godwin’s second score of the game, Brady completed the kill shot with a quick pass to receiver Antonio Brown, who took the play 30 yards into the end zone for the put-away touchdown.
In the first meeting between the teams, Brady’s Buccaneers were held to 60 net yards in the first half with the Falcons holding a 17-0 lead. Since the third quarter of the first meeting, the Buccaneers have posted 841 total yards, with Brady accounting for 719 of those through the air. Tampa Bay outscored the Falcons 75-37 over the past six quarters of their two combined games.
What stands out to Allen is not only how smart Brady is at the line of scrimmage but how much control he has over the play call. During Sunday’s game, Allen said he heard Brady yell “25 belly” at the line of scrimmage, with the number 25 tipping him off that the play was going to be a run. However, by saying such a thing at the line, Allen said Brady probably changed the entire play that was called from the sideline, which he said doesn’t happen all too often in the NFL.
“You can just tell by the look on his face that he knows most of the time what you’re in,” Allen said. “He’s just waiting to go through his reads. He’s one of those guys who stays on schedule. When we got real close to him, he stopped throwing the ball down the field. He just started throwing those quick passes out to his wide receivers that were mostly like a run. He knows how to chip away. Every time we came out in a two-high (safety) look you would see him tap his helmet and hand the ball off, can the play and start running the ball. He’s kind of like a coach on the field.
“You’re playing against someone who probably has the whole playbook at his dispense. I heard him call out ‘25 belly,’ which I knew was a run play to the right because of the 25. But for me to hear him say ’25 belly,’ he must have switched the whole play. You typically don’t hear a quarterback come out there and fully switch things. But he was.”
This offseason, Brady signed a two-year contract with the Buccaneers, with the franchise committed to him through the 2021 season. If Brady declines to retire and competes next year, the Falcons will have two chances to knock off the six-time Super Bowl champion.
As Brady showed Sunday, even with some of his team’s midseason struggles, he hasn’t slowed down yet. He just completed a regular season with 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns, which marked the first time he crossed 4,600 yards since 2015. It’s also the first time he tossed at least 40 touchdowns since he threw for 50 in 2007.
“Obviously he’s able to diagnose what’s happening on the field real well,” linebacker Foye Oluokun said. “That’s what makes him special.”
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