The Long Ball
 

Now I know that there are a bunch of Cassel vs Brady posts, but I am simply curious and on a fact finding 'mission' (and I guess a little too lazy too look into it myself because I don't remember - but I'm sure common knowledge among everyone here will suffice). What did Brady's long ball look like in his first year? I know Cassel has been slammed for "only hitting the short passes," but I was wondering about the difference in this area.

I know Brady has the downfield accuracy, but did he have to develop it?

Re: The Long Ball
 

I think Brady has always had decent arm strength.

The deal here is that he's never really had a deep threat before, like Randy is now. So, I'm not sure if you ever saw what he could do, because he rarely would have a need to throw it 40-70 yards. Unless it was a Hail Mary in the last few sec's of a game, which thank GWAD because he's Tom F'n Brady we have not seen very often.

Re: The Long Ball
 

I believe hard work to enhance natural gifts is the reason TFB is who he is.

Here's Tom's Scouting Report:

Re: The Long Ball
 

It was somewhere around the 2002 season where there were abundant posts here stating that Brady couldn't throw deep. It was just as abundant as any of the other cycle of rants that take place here.
I think Cassell can throw long, he just needs to find the rhythm. I heard an announcer state that he can throw just as hard as Brady but can't throw long. Well, if someone can sling it just as hard, they can pretty much throw it deep. There was a lot more touch on those longer passes last week and I think we'll see more of those throws in future games.

Re: The Long Ball
 

I seem to remember him uncorking a bomb in that David Patten game against Indy, but he was inaccurate on long passes until 2004.

Re: The Long Ball
 

Not necessarily true. You can have a cannon on short passes where your muscle memory can keep the pass accurate. Throwing a deep ball has to be thrown hard AND be a lot more precise, because even a slight variation in arm angle can lead to a floater or an overthrown ball. Hell, with some weight training, any of us could whip the ball 70 yards eventually, but could we drop it into a trash can 70 yards down the field consistently? Definitely not.

Re: The Long Ball
 

It Took Tom Brady a couple of years to get that down to an exact science. It wasn't a strength for him in 2002.

Re: The Long Ball
 

This long ball thing, John Clayton is on this kick that Cassel can't throw the ball more than 10 to 15 yards down the field. Heard him on all night on espn radio and just watched him on Mike & Mike.

So Cassel is just supposed to throw it up to Moss even though there is safety over the top? That is a low % throw, and I rather see him take the 10yard pass to the open WR. 10 yards in my book moves the chains does it not?

Clayton goes and says that Cassel is throwing it 10 yards and Moss and Welker are extending the play, that is why he has all the yards the last few games.

So Clayton, help me out. So a nice high % throw for 10 yards that turns into 60 is somehow not as good as forcing a 60 yard deep ball for an INT?

How many teams are throwing 30 yard pass play every other play? I don't know many.

Also kind of lost here with the espn guys here. Farve somehow has gotten better by taking the 10 yard pass and letting his play makers make plays. He has gotten better by not throwing it deep and throwing it to the other team.

Re: The Long Ball
 

Cassel can do it, he's just inconsistent. We all saw the perfect pass to Moss in the SF game and the perfect pass that Gaffney dropped in the Indy game. He can do it, he just needs to work on his consistency a lot.

FWIW, Cassel's YPA (which includes yards after catch) is 7.28, Brady's career high through 2003 was 6.9. I couldn't find stats on "length of throw" unfortunately.

Re: The Long Ball
 

Brady got better receivers.