Buccaneers
Buccaneers QB Tom Brady‘s personal throwing coach Tom House says Brady is having fun playing football again now that he is on a new team and has been joined by his favorite target in TE Rob Gronkowski.
“I think the most fun texts we’ve had is when Gronk signed,” House said in a video chat with GQ Sports. “Tom texted me and said, ‘Football’s fun again.’”
House communicates with Brady once a week, evaluating films of his throwing motions and breaking down his techniques.
“When he sends a video, I pretend like I’ve never seen it before, and he’ll either text me or leave me a voice mail and say, ‘Look, I just filmed about 20 throws. Have a look. Give me a shout if you see anything, or let’s talk this afternoon or tomorrow. And we’ll do it,’” House said. “We look at initially his timing and his kinetic sequencing, and then the throwing variables that most coaches would teach: balance and posture, stride and momentum, opposite and equal. And then the throwing variables that are quantified and specific to him. He’ll have his [screen] capture in front of him and I’ll say, ‘on your third throw to the left have a look at that, your front side flew open a bit. That’ll just be my eyes talking, and I’ll give him some of the cues that we use in his vocabulary for his teaching. It’s just like being there, but we’re looking at video at the same time.”
Panthers
The Panthers hand-picked QB Teddy Bridgewater in free agency to help lead the team into its new era in part due to the shared roots he and OC Joe Brady have in the Saints system of offense. But some have questioned if Bridgewater has the capacity to attack downfield the way Brady did at LSU. Panthers HC Matt Rhule is not one of those people, however.
“I don’t really listen, hear those things,” Rhule said via Myles Simmons of the team website. “Teddy, for us, is exactly what we want.”
“He certainly has the arm strength to do it,” Rhule added, before pointing out Bridgewater hasn’t been in offenses that do a lot of deep passing in the past. “But I think he’s done what he’s been asked to do.”
No one will mistake Bridgewater for having a cannon. But it’s also worth noting Brady’s last starting quarterback, Bengals No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow, was also critiqued for not having a cannon and that didn’t stop him from throwing it all over the yard with LSU’s talented receiving corps. Carolina’s hoping to replicate that with its receiving corps.
“I think one of the great things that’s one of the strengths of our team is that Robby Anderson‘s a deep-play threat. Curtis Samuel is a deep-play threat. D.J. Moore is a deep-play threat,” Rhule said. “So we feel like we have the power to be able to take advantage of throwing the ball downfield, and we know Teddy can do that.”
Saints
- Dan Graziano of ESPN takes a look at some extension candidates for the Saints to watch over the next year or so including RB Alvin Kamara, DT Sheldon Rankins, and CB Marshon Lattimore.
- Regarding Kamara, Graziano writes that Kamara could the one out of a large group of notable running backs in line to be free agents to receive the largest extension, considering his “distinctive and probably irreplaceable role in the New Orleans offense.”
- The Saints plan to reach out to fans in order to determine preferences for attending games. This would be in the case that the team would have to go to a partial attendance policy for any of the games. (Katherine Terrell)
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