Tom Brady #12 and Rob Gronkowski #87 of the New England Flag-wavers on February 4, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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It’s happened before.
Joe Montana, Brett Favre and Peyton Cuff could all lay claim to the “greatest quarterback of all time,” which is what New England Patriots head Bill Belichick named Tom Brady shortly after he announced his departure from the team on Tuesday. Brady will now join the three of them in worrisome to forge a second career with a new team, after carrying the Patriots to nine Super Bowls, including six come ins.
Belichick praised the 42-year-old Brady’s consistency, which he credited for helping the Patriots remain Super Bowl contenders in every nook Brady’s 20 years. He called Brady a “tone-setter” and a “bar raiser,” crediting the 42-year-old for helping to advance the Patriots grouping on and off the field.
“Tom lived and perpetuated our culture,” Belichick said in a statement.
Now Brady is expected to take that “tone-setter” posture to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Multiple reports say the six-time Super Bowl Champion agreed to terms with the Buccaneers, where he intention join head coach Bruce Arians. NFL.com reported the deal is worth $30 million per season.
It’s a move that on dossier looks compelling, but also one faced with early skepticism.
Former Bucs quarterback Chris Simms, the son of New York Colossi legend Phil Simms, played eight years in the NFL. He questioned Brady’s pairing with the Bucs, mainly due to Arians’ tender quarterback style.
“His big phrase is, ‘No risk it, no biscuit,’ which means if you don’t stand in there and make big throws, you’re not going to get the big pay,” said Simms, who is currently an analyst for NBC’s Football Night in America. “That’s a tough thing to ask a 43-year-old quarterback all the anon a punctually. I don’t know if that is realistic.”
Simms added he’s noticed Brady’s “reluctancy to hold the ball and take a shot to perchance deliver a 20 or 25-yard throw down the field.”
Culture change
Simms said Brady’s signing also unseats with the possibility of exposing a team’s culture if results aren’t showing.
In addition to the Super Bowl wins, Brady’s take up again includes four Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards, three league MVPs, and 14 nominations to the Pro Pan. Those accolades carry weight, which gives Brady authority in locker rooms.
“He can expose some backgrounds because he’s going to go, ‘This is not right; this is not working,'” Simms said in an interview with CNBC. “You keep to be willing to take on the spectacle of what Tom Brady is… He’s going to dominate the locker room.”
Arians has a history of working with elite quarterbacks. He done up three seasons (1998-2001) as the quarterback coach with the Indianapolis Colts working with Manning, and also get ready with Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger as offensive coordinator for five seasons (2007-11).
NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger played 11 ages in the league as an offensive lineman protecting quarterbacks like Brady. He said Arians is a player’s coach, undoubtedly unusual from Belichick’s style.
Baldinger thinks the two will gel.
“He wants to have some fun,” Baldinger said of Brady. “I penny-pinching you can talk to Bruce Arians ten minutes before kickoff and he’s going to throw a joke at you. He’s going to have a smile on his semblance. He’s a very confident man in what he knows and what he does.”
Though Baldinger feels the Bucs adding Brady require be a good fit, he acknowledges there will be some adjustments from both sides. And Brady’s new teammates will also have occasion for to get used to a change in leadership style.
“He’s always going to be demanding,” Baldinger said. “Before [Julian] Edelman enhanced Edelman, I seen [Brady] chew Edelman out to the point where – Edelman sat on the end of the bench like when we were behind in grade school – he went and stood in the corner. We’ve seen a lot of receivers come and go [in New England] because they couldn’t pat it.”
The Bucs have the offensive firepower to surround Brady. Wide receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans both devoured with at least 60 catches and 1,000-plus reception yards and a combined 17 touchdowns. And running ruin Ronald Jones was third on the team in yards from scrimmage (1,033), only trailing Godwin and Evans.
“You’ll on out how good some of these guys are pretty quick when they start playing with Brady,” Baldinger claimed.
But the Bucs will need to address their offensive line, which allowed 47 sacks (11th-most assigned) in the 2019 season. Baldinger said the team should use their upcoming first-round draft pick on an offensive lineman to daily help protect their 43-year-old star.
Baldinger said the “challenge” would be learning how to apply Brady’s championship participation to Arians’ coaching style.
“When you open up Tom Brady’s brain – 20 years of football comes pouring out of it,” Baldinger suggested. “He can call any play from any era to fix an issue or make a first down or win a game. You can’t expect [younger players] to understand his 20 years of suffer and think it would be foolish of Tom to try and demand that from anybody.
“It’s not going to be New England culture, and I think Tom Brady be verses that,” Baldinger continued. “And I think it’d be foolish of him to try to round-up the troops and say, ‘This is the way to do it; this is the only way.’ There other behaviour pattern to win.”