Hello all. I wrote this and I saw my post was getting a lot of hits from this forum and decided to check it out, I've never been here before, nice forum you have here. Thought I'd just give my 2cents on the discussion.
I just wanted to clarify that was not intended to be an indictment on Brady. I believe AustrianPatriot may have said it best:
The play calls strongly dictate Brady's progressions, it is not his fault. My hope is that more plays designed to go to KT as a first or second option will be called in the future now that he has shown an ability to consistently get open.
You are completely right, a lot of the times when he was open and not targeted, Brady was under pressure, or there was an earlier read that was also open. My intention was not to look at the offense as a whole, or Brady's performance, my intention was to show KT's route running in a vacuum. The idea is, sure Brady was under pressure this time they ran the play, but if next time they run the same play the protection is better, KT will most likely be open (obviously this is an oversimplification but I hope you get my point).
I agree that not all of the stills are taken at an ideal time. That being said, I don't believe there is a route where it changes my assessment of his route. For example, Play #8. The ball has been thrown, and to your point the linebackers have started to move towards the ball, but there is 10 yards of open space in any direction, perhaps in an earlier still before the linebackers move there may be 8 yards of open space. The overall point of him being open remains the same. Similar situation with Play #3, Thompkins had beaten his man even before the ball was thrown, but unfortunately the still I provided was taken as Dobson catches the ball. Play #1 is another that is taken after the ball has been thrown, but the DB never turns his head, and as far as I can tell did not know the ball had been thrown, so the play still seemed relevant.
Go Patriots!