Patriots Gridiron News 11/13: Tom Brady Mastering the Deep Ball

The New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has found his touch with the long ball this season and making it look easy.

Tom Brady has only played four games this season for the New England Patriots, but in those four games has propelled himself as a leading NFL MVP candidate. At age 39, his numbers are staggering and to add to his eye-popping statistics, the Patriots quarterback has improved in one of the areas where he has been inconsistent. The deep ball.

So far this season, Brady is 13 of 21 (61.9 percent) for 521 yards and four touchdowns on passes that travel 16-plus yards in the air. That percentage greatly surpasses the 38.3 percent completion rate he had from 2013 to 2015. Head coach Bill Belichick attributes that improvement to hard work and the timing between Brady and his receivers.

More from New England Patriots

"“I think Tom has done a good job on that,” Belichick said via the Worcester Telegram. “He’s worked hard and our receivers have done a good job, too. We’ve gotten behind the defense in position where those throws are a little bit, a little higher percentage, I would say. (It’s) really the combination of the quarterback and receiver and the work on both ends for the timing.”"

Part of Brady’s success is who he is throwing to. The Patriots still don’t have the type of deep threat they had back in 2007 with Randy Moss, but they do have a different type of deep threat in the newly-acquired Chris Hogan.

The 6-foot-1, 2010-pound receiver has averaged 20.6 yards a catch and has already connected with Brady on a couple passes over 40-plus yards. Hogan credits Brady’s vision and his ability to manipulate the pocket to create the time to get him the ball.

"“Tom sees it down the field and he has time to throw it, they give him time up front,” Hogan said. “He’s always looking down the field to make that big play, so we’ve been able to connect on a few of those this season.“And he’s been able to connect on it with a lot of guys, just being able to get open down the field. Whether it’s scrambling or just beating one-on-one coverage, whatever it is, he’s been putting the ball exactly where it needs to be.”"

Hopefully, the deep-ball accuracy will continue.

Roster moves: After much speculation, running back Dion Lewis has been activated to the 53-man roster for Sunday’s game against the Seahawks.

Lewis started the season on the PUP list after tearing his ACL over a year ago. The dynamic running back had “clean up” surgery in August and began practicing over two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how the Patriots use Lewis with the emergence of third-year running back James White.

The team has also added a couple of players to the practice squad. They have re-signed running back Tyler Gaffney, released tight end Austin Traylor and replaced him with running back Kennard Backman.

Next: NFL Tells Teams To Stop Commenting On Concussed Players

For more news and roster updates on your favorite NFL team, keep it locked here at Chowder and Champions.

Home/New England Patriots