Gronk on Brady reading Cowboys’ defense: He sees it all, he’s been playing for 80 years

NFL: SEP 09 Cowboys at Buccaneers
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When Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for an 11-yard touchdown in the third quarter on Thursday night, they weren’t running the play as it was originally called. Instead, they were relying on Brady’s audible at the line of scrimmage.

Gronkowski said after the game that Brady audibled into the play, first calling on Gronk to block, then changing the play to tell Gronk to block and release, based on what Brady saw from the Cowboys’ defense.

“Tom made a great call,” Gronkowski said. “I was actually on a route, and then he checked me into blocking, and then he checked me into blocking and releasing. He just sees it all on the field. It’s impressive. I mean the guy’s been playing for like 80 years, seen every defense, seen every play.”

Brady is actually starting his 22nd season in the NFL, not his 80th. But it feels like Brady could play for 80 years. He’s showing no signs of slowing down.

23 responses to “Gronk on Brady reading Cowboys’ defense: He sees it all, he’s been playing for 80 years

  1. Prescott hasn’t been playing that long, but he didn’t have any issue reading the Tampa defense lol

  2. I don’t have a dog in this fight due to my dislike of 31 other teams and only watched the highlights, but yeah, TB is the best to play his position. Ever.

  3. That play developed in what felt like one second. Pure poetry. Like watching Larry Bird pass to Kevin McHale in the 80s.

  4. Brady had coach belichick work with him daily for 20 years on how to read just about any defensive you can throw at a qb.

  5. Brady and Dak both played really well….as a football fan it was a really fun game to watch. Nice way to start the season!

  6. Brady is still getting used to his new team and teammates. It takes years to have this Brady/Gronk sort of mind meld. Yep, Brady is old. He’s in the NFL with players half his age, but he still looks young and play young. Ridiculous and incredible.

  7. There is a faction out there that hates this guy and i dont get it. 6th round pick, no silver spoon, worked his tail off to be as good as he is. Given his credentials and his ability to still perform at a top level in a young man’s game, this guy has to be considered the G.O.A.T of all professional sports. His accomplishments based on his merit are astounding. Gretzky was a blue chip when he was 14, everyone knew of M.J at UNC, LeBron and Kobe, world renown high school stars…TB…6th rd pick. For the haters, try and be objective for a minute and let that sink in. It is a remarkable feat.

  8. The brains, the wisdom, the experience AND he still has a big arm.

    Rewatch that TD pass to Antonio Brown in the 2nd quarter. Look at how quick his release is when he decides to throw and look at the zip on the ball.

    There have been many elite quarterbacks that are experts at reading defenses into their 40’s. But how many had that kind of arm at 40 years old, let alone age 44?

  9. touchback6 says:
    September 10, 2021 at 9:23 am
    Last team to have the ball…..Takes 2 throws and some cheating to get into FG range.

    ——-
    Where was the “cheating” exactly?

    Oh yeah, once again, nowhere???

    Good take.

  10. “this guy has to be considered the G.O.A.T of all professional sports.”

    Hardly. You must be pretty young.

  11. It was Dallas defense that can’t pressure the QB and has a suspect secondary. Let’s pump the brakes a little bit here. The first real defense they will face will be the Rams followed by the Patriots.

  12. 31 NFL head coaches should sit their entire team(s) down TODAY and drill it into their heads that when/if they play against the GOAT, that they have to play the entire 60 minutes…and play hard and smart. Don’t let up even if they’re ahead, behind, tied whatever. Brady can shred you in a split second.

  13. finchy74 says:
    September 10, 2021 at 10:19 am
    The brains, the wisdom, the experience AND he still has a big arm.

    Rewatch that TD pass to Antonio Brown in the 2nd quarter. Look at how quick his release is when he decides to throw and look at the zip on the ball.

    There have been many elite quarterbacks that are experts at reading defenses into their 40’s. But how many had that kind of arm at 40 years old, let alone age 44?

    Read a stat from last year that Brady was the only QB that was top-5 in both passing yards per throw & short time of release. Ordinarily, if a QB is going to throw a long pass he needs to take longer to do so. Brady is the only one who can throw bombs in a nano-second.

  14. jpapz says:
    September 10, 2021 at 10:04 am
    There is a faction out there that hates this guy and i dont get it. 6th round pick, no silver spoon, worked his tail off to be as good as he is. Given his credentials and his ability to still perform at a top level in a young man’s game, this guy has to be considered the G.O.A.T of all professional sports.

    ———

    Bill Russell would like a word with you

  15. Bill Russell would like a word with you

    ———————–

    Not sure how many championships he would have if NBA playoff was 1-game series, MJ would have had only 3.

  16. Brady had coach belichick work with him daily for 20 years

    ————————

    Show me a video of preseason training camp in which Belichick worked with his QB and WR.

  17. ztoa says:
    September 10, 2021 at 1:59 pm
    Brady had coach belichick work with him daily for 20 years

    ————————

    Show me a video of preseason training camp in which Belichick worked with his QB and WR

    —————————-

    The truth is actually between you two. Belichick did do that, i sat there at training camp and watched it live right in front of me. But he doesn’t do it the whole time, he will observe something and come in to address it, but most of the time Belichick himself is going around working on the entire team, not giving Brady personal coaching. The rest of the time there were assistants working with him. So yes, every day, but only during training camp and only short periods of working with Brady directly.

    Brady hired personal coaches to work with him outside the facility too. Plus Edelman used to come to his house to practice routes in his (very nice and very large) back yard. And Brady had several other receivers (IE Gronk did it a few times) would come. Also that stuff with his wife was hilarious. Edelman taught her all his routes and then she would run them for her husband on other days. There is video floating out there of this and OMG that gal is seriously fast and athletic. I know she was a model not an athlete, but her physical training was no joke and you can see the result when shes doing that stuff.

  18. The truth is actually between you two. Belichick did do that,

    ———————–

    One Brady’s signature plays SINCE 2001: Look away from intended receivers AFTER SNAP to FOOL defenders for a fraction of a second. Did you see any other Pats QB doing it? If it was Belichick, you should see similar plays by other QB, shouldn’t you?

    The reason opponent defenders were too late to tackle, the reason you often saw Pats receivers wide open. It was never because of the designs (other coaches could design too), those cheap receivers had extra 2-3 yards of space with Brady.

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