Dion Lewis weaving his route against the Raiders

[K. Dog]

I just watched the all-22 of Dion Lewis's TD. What a route. What a great play.

Lewis lines up to the right of Brady.

Then after the snap he:

1. Moves right
2. Cuts in just as Brady pump fakes left
3. Moves back out to catch the pass, leaving his defender far behind
4. Cuts back in
5. Cuts back out
6. Cuts back in
7. Dives between the last two defenders
8. Scores

By the end of the play, all three of Lewis's defenders are on the ground, no doubt somewhat dizzy. Not even sure if Lewis was touched.

This play was really a gem.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

What have I been telling people???

 

[oldrover]

What have I been telling people???

He's also a two-sport player...

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Just like I coach em'!

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I thought Brady's look and pump left cleared away potential defenders. Need the All 22 to verify.

 

[K. Dog]

Note that the first three moves were designed: the out; the pump fake/in cut; the throw/out/catch.

Not sure how many of the following moves were designed rather than improvised. Pobably one or two.

 

[Tony2046]

I thought Brady's look and pump left cleared away potential defenders. Need the All 22 to verify.

He did. Romo mentions it during the broadcast. Brady skips going through his progressions and straight to Lewis. Elite stuff.

 

[Minitron]

I thought Brady's look and pump left cleared away potential defenders. Need the All 22 to verify.

Brian Baldinger breaks it down pretty well in this video. At 0:45.

 

[Tony2046]

Brian Baldinger breaks it down pretty well in this video. At 0:45.

Baldinger does a great job breaking down film.

 

[Tony2046]

Note that the first three moves were designed: the out; the pump fake/in cut; the throw/out/catch.

Not sure how many of the following moves were designed rather than improvised. Pobably one or two.

It's hard to tell what was designed and what Brady saw at pre-snap. Whatever the case was Brady skipped the typical read progression and went to Lewis. Lewis did the rest on his own.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

DL's first 6 games with the Patriots he was a human highlight reel. Not only an ability to make tacklers miss but make them look outright stupid in the process. The most agile, shiftiest runner I've seen the Patriots have. Unfortunately the injury came along and even after his return he was not the same. It's only recently he has started showing glimpses of his Patriot beginning. Keeping Lewis healthy is the key...

Some interesting history on Lewis: according to reports the Patriots had multiple discussions with him during 2011's draft but the Patriots opted to select Vereen while Lewis went to Philly. Philly used Lewis in 2011 almost entirely as a KR (a unimpressive longest KR of 33 yards) while having only 24 touches on offense. In 2012 he was not Philly's KR and he got even fewer touches (15) on offense. Philly traded Lewis to Cleveland for Emmanuel Acho (Acho would never catch on in the NFL, having 20 career games). Unfortunately for Lewis he suffered a season ending injury before any games even began. He appears to have been cut by Cleveland and ends up healthy but passed over by all teams in 2014.
2015, in his first Patriot game (not having played a meaningful snap of football in 2 and a quarter years) against the Steelers, Lewis has 15 carries for 69 yards and 4 catches for 50 yards (only 80 yards less than his entire career's offensive output). What a triumph the Steelers game must have been for Lewis.

 

[DaBruinz]

DL's first 6 games with the Patriots he was a human highlight reel. Not only an ability to make tacklers miss but make them look outright stupid in the process. The most agile, shiftiest runner I've seen the Patriots have. Unfortunately the injury came along and even after his return he was not the same. It's only recently he has started showing glimpses of his Patriot beginning. Keeping Lewis healthy is the key...

...

2015, in his first Patriot game (not having played a meaningful snap of football in 2 and a quarter years) against the Steelers, Lewis has 15 carries for 69 yards and 4 catches for 50 yards (only 80 yards less than his entire career's offensive output). What a triumph the Steelers game must have been for Lewis.

I bet Lewis is licking his chops to face the Steelers again. It was probably particularly satisfying since he went to Pitt for college..

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I bet Lewis is licking his chops to face the Steelers again. It was probably particularly satisfying since he went to Pitt for college..

Yep.
In his rookie year he broke the legendary TouchDown Tony Dorsett's rushing yards record (a Big East record). In the season finale Lewis rushed the ball 47 times for 194 yards (and 3 TDs). He was the Big East Rookie of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year (the last player to do this was Mike Vick).

 

[Minitron]

It's hard to tell what was designed and what Brady saw at pre-snap. Whatever the case was Brady skipped the typical read progression and went to Lewis. Lewis did the rest on his own.

First i thought he wanted to throw that ball to Cooks because his motion after the pump fake looked so unnatural and kinda improvised. But after watching the breakdown of it he just did a great job and went to his obvious mismatch.

 

[Tony2046]

First i thought he wanted to throw that ball to Cooks because his motion after the pump fake looked so unnatural and kinda improvised. But after watching the breakdown of it he just did a great job and went to his obvious mismatch.

This year I committed myself to watching a bunch of game film. One thing I've noticed (or thought) was that Brady doesn't follow the natural read progression all the time like all the other QB's do. A typical QB will start left or right and work his way across the field to the other side.. Brady does that as well but he also starts left and immediately goes right or vice versa. Other QB's don't do that.

A lot of time you'll see a play in which the QB starts reading left and the DB's covering the right side will bail on their assignments and start running to the left side leaving a man or men open. Brady has learned to take advantage of that somehow.

Anyways the OP's play is a perfect example of that. I do believe that it is sometimes designed that way but I also think Brady knows where his mis-matches are and skips the read progression. l

Btw: This is why I laugh at the "fluttering passes" and " athletic processing" stuff.

90% of QB play is mental.

 

[TommyD4207]

Btw: This is why I laugh at the "fluttering passes" and " athletic processing" stuff.

I dunno, I still feel like I haven't heard enough about 'athletic processing'.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

DL's first 6 games with the Patriots he was a human highlight reel. Not only an ability to make tacklers miss but make them look outright stupid in the process. The most agile, shiftiest runner I've seen the Patriots have. Unfortunately the injury came along and even after his return he was not the same. It's only recently he has started showing glimpses of his Patriot beginning. Keeping Lewis healthy is the key...

Some interesting history on Lewis: according to reports the Patriots had multiple discussions with him during 2011's draft but the Patriots opted to select Vereen while Lewis went to Philly. Philly used Lewis in 2011 almost entirely as a KR (a unimpressive longest KR of 33 yards) while having only 24 touches on offense. In 2012 he was not Philly's KR and he got even fewer touches (15) on offense. Philly traded Lewis to Cleveland for Emmanuel Acho (Acho would never catch on in the NFL, having 20 career games). Unfortunately for Lewis he suffered a season ending injury before any games even began. He appears to have been cut by Cleveland and ends up healthy but passed over by all teams in 2014.
2015, in his first Patriot game (not having played a meaningful snap of football in 2 and a quarter years) against the Steelers, Lewis has 15 carries for 69 yards and 4 catches for 50 yards (only 80 yards less than his entire career's offensive output). What a triumph the Steelers game must have been for Lewis.

And this is why it drives me nuts when idiots around here automatically declare a player garbage because he couldn't get meaningful playing time on whatever terrible team.

Bad teams are bad for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that they're bad at evaluating talent. If a guy doesn't play on the Browns, it might not be about the player. It might be the steaming pile of garbage that is the FO.

"Hurr durr Bademosi couldn't even play for the Lions hurr durr." Neither could Van Noy. Neither could Waddle. So ****ing what? I trust our FO's opinion over one of the worst franchises in the league.

Lewis is a great example of our FO keeping tabs on a player they've been interested in for a while. And rather than basing their entire evaluation on a ****ty team's evaluation, they want to take the time to find out. Sometimes it doesn't work out (Marsh is the latest example of that), but overall they've done pretty well with these types of acquisitions.

 

[Tony2046]

And this is why it drives me nuts when idiots around here automatically declare a player garbage because he couldn't get meaningful playing time on whatever terrible team.

Bad teams are bad for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that they're bad at evaluating talent. If a guy doesn't play on the Browns, it might not be about the player. It might be the steaming pile of garbage that is the FO.

"Hurr durr Bademosi couldn't even play for the Lions hurr durr." Neither could Van Noy. Neither could Waddle. So ****ing what? I trust our FO's opinion over one of the worst franchises in the league.

Lewis is a great example of our FO keeping tabs on a player they've been interested in for a while. And rather than basing their entire evaluation on a ****ty team's evaluation, they want to take the time to find out. Sometimes it doesn't work out (Marsh is the latest example of that), but overall they've done pretty well with these types of acquisitions.

Just wanted to say that "hurr durr" really added the appropriate emphasis to your post.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Appreciate the video analysis of the plays posted.

On a more somber note, Sammy please post and let us know you're OK!
A wandering coyote carrying a cat in its mouth was spotted in Newton

 

[Tony2046]

Appreciate the video analysis of the plays posted.

On a more somber note, Sammy please post and let us know you're OK!
A wandering coyote carrying a cat in its mouth was spotted in Newton

The cat in the photo doesn't have a jersey on. Should be all set.