Brady seemed to lose faith in one receiver after another.
Tyler Johnson was open early, and the broadcasters said Brady overthrew him, but it was clearly a communication problem. Brady thought he was still running and Johnson broke off the route. Brady didn’t target him again.
Mike Evans was targeted often early, but after dropping that red zone slant (possible TD), the connection fizzled out. This guy is a real paradox. Doesn’t seem to be reliable in critical situations.
Cam Brate and Brady were just way off. It seemed like he was running Gronk’s routes but lacked the height and athleticism to be in the right place. He dropped an easy one in the third quarter, too. Lack of trust there again.
Belichick took away Godwin, which was the right call.
Brady’s big opportunity was AB, but they missed three fairly routine touchdown connections and had a 50 yard pass called back. He was there, open, and would have changed the game if those two were on.
Brady played tight and “not to lose.” The Peter King article today highlighted this. From the perspective of “not having a big ego,” Brady didn’t have one, as he didn’t want to throw the game away with a hero throw. But overall, he was too timid. Bucs should have scored a lot more. He was very lucky to come away with the win.