Fencer
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
- Messages
- 14,293
- Reaction score
- 3,986
If you look at the replay -- e.g. at http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d804f0f8b -- not only was Brady alone w/o any pesky Steelers to bother him, but there were several potential blockers standing around him with nothing to do.
Even if one Pittsburgh rusher had tried to keep coming as some sort of flea-flicker spy responsibility, I don't know that it would have made much difference. There was enough blocking flexibility to pick him up, and Moss could if need be have through the ball to a slightly different spot.
And of course the execution wasn't perfect. Moss dropped the lateral (that sure didn't look like it was by design), then threw it wobbling back to Brady, who underthrew Gaffney a bit so that the pass was almost broken up.
I don't know how you defend that flea-flicker other than simply by doing a good job of covering the receivers. Meanwhile, I'm delighted to see it not just for the play itself, but in the hope that the Pats will start practicing swing passes more and trying to return to their level of excellence on such plays five or so years ago. It seems like Pats' opponents are better at swing passes than the Pats are these days, and something doesn't feel right about that ...
Even if one Pittsburgh rusher had tried to keep coming as some sort of flea-flicker spy responsibility, I don't know that it would have made much difference. There was enough blocking flexibility to pick him up, and Moss could if need be have through the ball to a slightly different spot.
And of course the execution wasn't perfect. Moss dropped the lateral (that sure didn't look like it was by design), then threw it wobbling back to Brady, who underthrew Gaffney a bit so that the pass was almost broken up.
I don't know how you defend that flea-flicker other than simply by doing a good job of covering the receivers. Meanwhile, I'm delighted to see it not just for the play itself, but in the hope that the Pats will start practicing swing passes more and trying to return to their level of excellence on such plays five or so years ago. It seems like Pats' opponents are better at swing passes than the Pats are these days, and something doesn't feel right about that ...
