Tom Brady's New Focus On Extending Plays
BOSTON (CBS) -- One of the many memories Patriots fans have of Tom Brady (other than those three Super Bowl victories, of course) is the normally slow-footed quarterback juking future Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher out of his cleats back in 2006.
While Brady is as close to a sure-thing as it gets when it comes to picking up a first down in those 4th-and-1 situations, he is the first to admit that he isn't the most nimble of quarterbacks on his feet.
"I joke all the time, I don't have one cell in my body that ever tells me to run," Brady said with a laugh on Wednesday morning as the Patriots prepare to host the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Now in his 15th season, chances are he isn't going to improve much in that department. But Brady is also a football nut, and watching other quarterbacks help their teams score points by extending plays with their feet has been duly noted by the man under center in New England.
"It's never really been something I've been great at -- extending plays," he said. "I see so many of these players, whether it be Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler and Alex Smith do it, some really mobile quarterbacks who do a great job for their team; Ben Roethlisberger has done it for a lot of years."
Brady On Extending Play
Watching his quarterback brethren scramble for those few seconds, buying their targets some added time to get open, has Brady thinking "why not me?"
"I've tried to focus on that a little bit," he said Wednesday. "I don't think instinctually it's there for me yet, but I'm going to keep working on it. You see when they happen, they end up being big momentum plays."
Anytime Brady picks up a first down with his legs, it certainly fires up his teammates and the home crowd. It helps even more when he delivers an emphatic first down signal, like he did eight years ago when he picked up 11-yards on a third-and-9 play against Urlacher.
"Somehow that always gets brought up when we play these guys," he said with another laugh. "There wasn't many of those in my career. It's pretty easy to count them on one hand when something like that happens.
"He'll be in the Hall of Fame someday," Brady said of Urlacher, who retired in 2013 is now a football analyst on TV. "It might be my only time I made a Hall of Famer miss."
Brady On Urlacher Juke
But it's not all about running for first downs. Just as important is the quarterback buying his receivers some extra time to get open, which can be done with a few steps here and there. That was the case last Thursday, when Brady bought a few extra seconds by stepping out of the pocket, and then fired a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola in New England's win over the Jets.
"If you are able to extend the play and buy your teammates more time to get open, it's like a whole other play. It's a great advantage for an offense," he said. "I'm trying to do a better job of it so it's not as big a weakness as it has in the past."
Don't worry, Tom Brady is not going to try to re-invent his game. He will continue to focus on moving his team down the field through the air, but he also understands what another element to his game can mean for the New England offense.
"It's just trying to understand how I can help our team more, and if I can make some more of those plays, I think it will really help our team," said Brady. "I try to focus on that a little bit and coach has talked about it. I think there could be more of those still."
There aren't many weaknesses in Tom Brady's game, but it's good to know that even a 15-year veteran can admit to them, and even better that he's still focused on improving.
"I think it's a challenge, and I think you try to accept those things," said Brady. "I think I'm excited about trying to make those changes as opposed to resistant because I realize how much it could help."
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