In his introductory press conference on Tuesday, Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said that he thinks head coach Bruce Arians’ offense is great for quarterbacks and said he’ll be “throwing the ball to the guy who’s open” when asked about Arians-led offenses throwing a lot of deep balls.
Some have questioned Brady’s ability to consistently deliver such passes, but Arians isn’t among them. He said on Wednesday that “the perception is just wrong” and that Brady was “outstanding” in that area. According to ESPN, Brady completed 43 percent of his passes that went traveled more than 20 yards in the air.
That was good for seventh-best in the league, so it seems the team won’t be removing any plays from the playbook. Arians also highlighted that there’s other positives to having a quarterback with Brady’s philosophy about finding the open man.
“We do have reads that start deep and come in short, but I’ve had a couple quarterbacks that just keep looking deep -- they won’t throw the check-down,” Arians said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “Tom Moore has the best saying in the world: ‘You don’t go broke putting money in the bank. Take the damn check-down.’ “We don’t have to teach Tom that. But I think the freedom of looking downfield on certain routes and in certain situations, when the matchup’s perfect -- take it, don’t be afraid to take it -- some quarterbacks are afraid to take it. I’m not looking for a ‘checkdown Charlie’ quarterback.”
Jameis Winston led the league in throws of at least 20 yards last season, but he also led the league in interceptions. If the latter number falls along with the former, it will likely suit Arians and the Bucs just fine.