What Were Tom Brady’s Most Underrated Skills?
They Have Nothing to do With Passing or Leadership
For all the surgeon-like passing precision Tom Brady displayed over his 20+year NFL career, there are two underrated skills that made him great. And they have nothing to do with throwing.
He knew HOW to take a sack and how to sneak
- The art of taking a sack
As a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I go into cardiac arrest when I see Joe Burrow go back in the pocket — every time. His offensive line is Swiss Cheese. He takes massive hits but he’s not alone.
There are plenty of quarterbacks who get crushed every single Sunday by taking jarring, head-snapping hits. By and large, Brady did not.
He tore his ACL in Week 1 of the 2008 NFL season but other than that, he rarely took massive hits. I don’t remember any concussions. Did you know that he actually practiced taking sacks?
If you look closely, when he got sacked he literally looked like a soldier ducking behind a bush — he went down fast. He knew when to fold like a metal chair at your grandma’s church and when to hang in.
2. The other underrated skill he had was the quarterback sneak.
In a short-yardage situation he would get up to the line quickly and drive his legs like a bull for 2 or 3 yards.
This would have come in extremely handy in the Super Bowl for Cincinnati. They had three chances to gain one yard in the fourth quarter against the Rams and couldn’t pick it up.
Burrow would have been clobbered due to his offensive line, but that is a situation where Brady would have probably snuck it for a first down. If you think about it, that is much more efficient than handing off the ball three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage against a staunch run defense.
To me, Brady is fascinating. He was my favorite all-time player to watch and I hope he gets bored and comes back. He gives hope to skinny, frail-looking white guys everywhere. Kinda like Joe Burrow.
