TAMPA, Fla. — The first impression of 2021 was a turnoff. Or more specifically, a turnover.
Playoff Lenny — aka Bucs running back Leonard Fournette — had spent the 2020 postseason evolving into an unlikely star of his team’s Super Bowl march. Once disgruntled and even disgraced (as a healthy scratch in a critical mid-December game), he had responded to Bruce Arians’ late-season ultimatum with 448 total playoff yards and four touchdowns.
Yet skepticism lingered about his hands, and the questions regressed to catcalls in the 2021 opener against the Cowboys. On Fournette’s second target of the night, a short screen pass from Tom Brady bounced right off his mildly outstretched mitts into the stomach of cornerback Trevon Diggs for an easy interception.
“We don’t like to throw to backs if we don’t have to,” Arians said the next day. “They’re check-down people.”
One month later, Playoff Lenny has evolved to Pass-Catching Lenny. His 15 receptions (fourth-most on the team) are two more than Antonio Brown and only one fewer than Rob Gronkowski. More significantly, he clearly has entered the elite sanctum of targets in whom Brady totally trusts.
“We’ll just continue to throw it to him,” Arians said, “And he’ll get a better understanding in the passing game of where he needs to be as a running back/pass catcher. But, yeah, we trust his hands.”
Subtract his first two targets of 2021 (an incompletion and the interception), and Fournette, 26, has caught 15 of the 17 passes directed to him — a catch rate of 88.2%. He had caught 13 consecutive passes targeted to him before failing to scoop up a mostly uncatchable low ball early in Sunday’s 19-17 win in New England.
Four games into the season, his 15 receptions are nearly half of his 2020 regular-season total (36), which included 11 missed targets. So far, Brady has thrown to him more often than anyone not named Evans, Godwin, Brown or Gronk.
“Lenny’s got great hands,” said Arians, who watched Fournette total 138 yards (including 20 carries for 91 yards) in Sunday’s triumph. “His drops are usually lack of concentration, because he’s got as good of hands as anybody on the team.”
Focus, it seems, arrived with familiarity.
Waived by the Jaguars on Aug. 31, 2020, he signed with the Bucs a week later, missing virtually all of the team’s abbreviated training camp. The turbulent regular season that ensued has been well documented, as has Arians’ challenge to the onetime Jaguars workhorse to embrace his role — as a complementary offensive weapon — or risk being released.
His dazzling postseason — which included 18 catches on 21 targets — followed. So did a full training camp in which he built a further clairvoyance with Brady.
“I think he’s becoming a pro right in front of our eyes,” offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich said midway through camp.
Fast forward to Sunday night’s waning minutes, and Brady turned to his trustworthy backfield target again. His team down 17-16, the quarterback took a shotgun snap and hurled a deep shot down the right side to Fournette, who was being covered by Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
“I told Brady it was going to happen, you know, get a one-on-one matchup on their linebackers,” said Fournette, also currently the Bucs’ top rusher (44 carries, 183 yards). “It’s going to happen, and Brady said it’s going to happen. It’s all about watching film.”
Sure enough, Van Noy was whistled for pass interference, a spot foul resulting in a 31-yard gain. Eight plays later, Ryan Succop nailed the go-ahead 48-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining.
“Got that matchup we were looking for,” Arians said.
Looking for Lenny. At the game’s most critical juncture, no less.
Seems first impressions often can be false ones.
“This is a very difficult game to play,” Fournette said following Sunday night’s win. “It’s not easy to win on Sundays, so I’m just blessed to be in this position, this opportunity to help out the Bucs and my teammates.”
