Tom Brady is a man of many hats, and it looks like "coach" may be the latest he wears.
The Buccaneers haven't had the most ideal season in 2022, the first of the Todd Bowles-Tom Brady working relationship in Tampa Bay. At 6-7, the team's offense has been middling at best, with a league-worst rushing attack and a passing game that hasn't been emblematic of something run by the GOAT.
The team's offensive woes have led to rumors that Brady has been doing a little bit of maintenance and tinkering on the team's offensive gameplan leading up to gameday with skill position groups — something that he's actually been attached to doing in the past.
On Monday, Bowles cleared the air surrounding the rumors, saying that it's customary for position groups to meet before the game and make some adjustments.
No, we know what's going on in the meeting and we know all the tweaks. The defensive guys meet by themselves as well. We have several position groups that meet by themselves as well to get on the same page together before a game. That's nothing …That's not new.
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While it's customary for position groups to meet on the night before the game, what Brady was doing goes beyond that, according to Michael Silver. The NFL insider reported on Sunday that Brady makes last-second changes to the team's looks on the night before the game, with Bowles and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich "discovering" the changes in real time.
The level of responsibility that Brady imposes upon himself has always been massive, and this year, he’s taxed to the max. One example: On the night before each game, Brady runs a separate meeting with the Bucs’ skill players during which he goes over the gameplan, makes tweaks to assignments and formations and provides a revised blueprint — one which first-year head coach Todd Bowles, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and the rest of the staff are left to discover in real time once the game begins.
Last season, a report that Brady and Leftwich would alter gameplans — leading to now-retired coach Bruce Arians changing them back — surfaced in the wake of Arians' retirement.
If Brady is, in fact, changing the gameplan, given the Buccaneers' issues on that side of the ball, maybe he'll want to cut it out.
