When Tom Brady got the opportunity to throw passes to Randy Moss, he made the most of it. Now that he has the opportunity to throw passes to Mike Evans, he is already doing the same. Brady and Evans got rolling in Week 2 and plan to build on it. For Brady, Evans reminds him of Moss in a lot of ways.
"From a physical standpoint -- both [have] big bodies, big catch radiuses and great body control," Brady said Thursday when asked to compare the two receivers. "[They have a] great understanding of the game -- feel, instincts, [etc.]. Randy is a Hall of Famer. I think Mike is going to be one too and it's been amazing to play with him. I love playing with Mike. He's been just spectacular from the day I met him. I admired him from afar for a long time."
Although Evans doesn't match Moss statistically speaking through 92 games, both have racked up two of the greatest starts for a receiver in NFL history. Moss was in his seventh season in the NFL when he hit the 92-game mark, catching 496 passes for 7,982 yards (third all-time) with 71 touchdown catches (fourth all-time). Evans has 7,366 receiving yards (10th all-time) on 470 catches and 50 touchdowns (tied for 28th all-time). Moss also led the NFL in receiving touchdowns three times in his first seven seasons and earned two first team All-Pro selections during that span. Both Moss and Evans recorded 1,000-yard seasons in each of their first six years in the league.
Brady and Evans got off to a rocky start in their first game together, but Evans had seven catches for 104 yards and a score in Week 2. Brady admitted the pair's chemistry is growing as the season is going on. With Brady's help, Evans could post the numbers Moss achieved in the prime of his career when he was catching passes from Brady.
"Yeah, I think that's pretty natural -- the more you're together, the more you talk, the more you communicate, the more you practice [and] play together, the situations come up," Brady said of the improved chemistry. "So much is non-verbal communication. What did you see? What did I see? As long as we both see it the same way, that's important. It's hard if one guy [says], 'I saw this. Well, I saw this.' Then mistakes happen. Unfortunately, it's just part of the learning process.
"I've played a lot of football. I have in my mind what I think is going to happen, or what has happened for me over 20 years and the conversations I've had, but unfortunately I've never had those conversations with this group of players, and that's just part of it. It's just the way it is. You can't replicate live, game-time reps. You've got to just do it on the practice field, talk through [mistakes]. Unfortunately, when it happens during a game, you've got to really take those to heart, learn from them and try to improve them. I love working with our group of receivers. We're off to a decent start. We've got to really build on it and try to make as many improvements as quickly as possible."
