After the Patriots lost Super Bowl XLVI, Tom Brady’s wife Gisele Bundchen lamented the fact that Brady’s teammates dropped passes by saying that “my husband cannot f--king throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.”
Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills took a page from that book when he spoke to reporters in Miami on Thursday. Stills had one catch on four targets against the Colts last week and has six catches on 13 targets in his last five appearances, which Stills said is not a result of defenses keeping him under wraps.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly why I’m not getting more targets. I can tell you I’m getting open. ... I can’t throw the ball to myself,” Stills said, via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.
Stills said he sees other receivers getting open without getting the ball thrown their way as well, but the drop in usage is particularly sharp for Stills. He had 81 and 105 targets in his first two seasons with the Dolphins and is on pace for 56 this year if the ball continues to come his way at the same rate.
If there’s good news for Stills, it’s that his usage fell off when Brock Osweiler took over for Ryan Tannehill. He was targeted 24 times in the first five games of the year and the four balls thrown his way in Tannehill’s return to the lineup last Sunday were his most since Tannehill was injured.
UPDATE 5:00 p.m. ET: Stills returned to the media room at the Dolphins facility to let reporters know that he was not taking a shot at any of the team’s quarterbacks with his earlier comments.
“There’s no single person we can point the finger at,” Stills said.
