A couple of members suggested it.
At least one, MrTex, even insisted that Watson should have known that they will blanketed his receivers and therefore, needed to go to the dump off right away, to give one of his two options (the RB and the TE) a chance to get some yards.
I use the Game Play Finder feature on PFR to look up similar situations to see how the other QBs performed.
I limited it to this year, saw a lot of plays, so I decided to narrow it down to Tom Brady first.
He had 4 such situations.
This was how they played out:
Buccaneers Panthers
2 1:01 3 15 TAM 26 Tom Brady pass complete short right to Ronald Jones for 2 yards (tackle by Rasul Douglas)
Buccs in 11P, TE strong left, 3 receivers Right (play side).
Screen pass to RB.
Buccs in 10P, 3 receivers Left, 1 receiver Right.
Up 21-0 late in the second half, the Buccs played it safe and called a screen pass.
Went nowhere.
...............................
3 4:56 3 15 CAR 46 Tom Brady pass incomplete short middle intended for Leonard Fournette
Buccs in 10P, 2 receivers on either side.
The Buccs set up another screen pass, up 21-7.
It still got snuffed off.
....................................................................................................
Buccaneers Broncos
3 6:49 3 16 TAM 27 Tom Brady pass complete short right to LeSean McCoy for 15 yards (tackle by P.J. Locke)
Buccs up 25-10
Buccs in 11P, TE strong left, XZ left, Y right.
3 deep routes, TE right flat left, RB left flat.
Brady did not go to the dump off right away.
He looked to go deep but no receiver was open.
He only went to dump off just before the 6:45 second mark (nearly 4 seconds off the play clock).
LeSean McCoy made it happen, but the fact here is that Brady never took the dump off right off the bat like Mr Tex suggested.
"That the QB should know the deep routes will be covered and take the dump off immediately, forgetting the first read".
That was NOT what happened here.
Brady had time to throw the ball, so he waited and waited.
........................................
4 10:51 3 28 TAM 10 Tom Brady pass complete deep middle to Scott Miller for 26 yards (tackle by Justin Simmons)
Buccs up 28-10
Buccs in 11P, TE strong Right, X left, YZ right.
TE stayed back to block, RB left flat, 3 deep routes.
Even backed up at his own 10 yards line, Brady went with one of the 3 deep routes;
he never even look at the dump off.
He had a clean pocket and the ball left his hand around the 3-sec mark.
.......................
At least one, MrTex, even insisted that Watson should have known that they will blanketed his receivers and therefore, needed to go to the dump off right away, to give one of his two options (the RB and the TE) a chance to get some yards.
I use the Game Play Finder feature on PFR to look up similar situations to see how the other QBs performed.
I limited it to this year, saw a lot of plays, so I decided to narrow it down to Tom Brady first.
He had 4 such situations.
This was how they played out:
Buccaneers Panthers
2 1:01 3 15 TAM 26 Tom Brady pass complete short right to Ronald Jones for 2 yards (tackle by Rasul Douglas)
Buccs in 11P, TE strong left, 3 receivers Right (play side).
Screen pass to RB.
Buccs in 10P, 3 receivers Left, 1 receiver Right.
Up 21-0 late in the second half, the Buccs played it safe and called a screen pass.
Went nowhere.
...............................
3 4:56 3 15 CAR 46 Tom Brady pass incomplete short middle intended for Leonard Fournette
Buccs in 10P, 2 receivers on either side.
The Buccs set up another screen pass, up 21-7.
It still got snuffed off.
....................................................................................................
Buccaneers Broncos
3 6:49 3 16 TAM 27 Tom Brady pass complete short right to LeSean McCoy for 15 yards (tackle by P.J. Locke)
Buccs up 25-10
Buccs in 11P, TE strong left, XZ left, Y right.
3 deep routes, TE right flat left, RB left flat.
Brady did not go to the dump off right away.
He looked to go deep but no receiver was open.
He only went to dump off just before the 6:45 second mark (nearly 4 seconds off the play clock).
LeSean McCoy made it happen, but the fact here is that Brady never took the dump off right off the bat like Mr Tex suggested.
"That the QB should know the deep routes will be covered and take the dump off immediately, forgetting the first read".
That was NOT what happened here.
Brady had time to throw the ball, so he waited and waited.
........................................
4 10:51 3 28 TAM 10 Tom Brady pass complete deep middle to Scott Miller for 26 yards (tackle by Justin Simmons)
Buccs up 28-10
Buccs in 11P, TE strong Right, X left, YZ right.
TE stayed back to block, RB left flat, 3 deep routes.
Even backed up at his own 10 yards line, Brady went with one of the 3 deep routes;
he never even look at the dump off.
He had a clean pocket and the ball left his hand around the 3-sec mark.
.......................