Tom Brady’s Transition Challenges
April 11th, 2020
Drew Bledsoe knows what awaits Tom Brady
Drew Bledsoe was a true franchise quarterback when he left the Patriots and headed to the Bills, and was again when he reunited with Bill Parcells in Dallas.
So Tom Brady’s former teammate knows a lot about what awaits him as a heralded veteran QB in Tampa.
Bledsoe told WEEI radio that his only concern about Brady with the Bucs is having enough time to rub off on his teammates and raise their games. The Coronavirus situation will kill critical in-person time that can’t be duplicated.
“Now you’re going into a place where everybody’s new. So you’re doing two things simultaneously. You’re trying to integrate yourself into existing culture, but you’re also trying to grow that culture at the same time,” Bledsoe said.
“In order to do that, you know, you need to be around the guys. You need to be face-to-face with them. I’ve said over the years, Tom’s greatness on the field pales in comparison to the greatness he showed from Monday through Saturday that he showed for that franchise.”
Just the thought of lost spring practices are “probably bugging Brady,” Bledsoe said, and it could eventually affect his accuracy.
A rarely discussed aspect of accuracy, Bledsoe said, is “knowing where the guy’s going to be” and it takes a lot of time to develop that precision. His take echoed comments of Patriots receiving great Wes Welker, who shared his struggles to reach the level of perfection demanded by Brady.
Bledsoe emphasized that “Brady has more experience than anybody that’s every played the position of quarterback,” but valuable offseason time is almost irreplaceable when you’re heading to a new team as a QB.
On a fun note, Bledsoe joked that he “was dumb enough” to play for Parcells in Dallas after their years together in New England. Bledsoe said Parcells rode him so hard all week long that he was super relaxed and comfortable on game days because it was the one time he could be 30 yards from the head coach and operate freely and peacefully.
There was “a method to the madness,” Bledsoe said.
April 11th, 2020 at 5:39 pm
Drew Bledsoe is a class act in his own right. Doesn’t have the accomplishments that Tom Brady has, but he was still a quality QB and a quality person. Excellent perspective about what Tom Brady will face this season BTW.
April 11th, 2020 at 5:42 pm
I doubt we will have a season this yr. That said though,I wish we did More Than Ever!!!!
April 11th, 2020 at 5:54 pm
However, this gives more days for Brady to learn all of the BA’s Playbook and look at games on tape from last year and watch how the different receivers and and TEs run their routes. It will also allow time for Brady to FaceTime with BA and suggest some other plays Brady would like put into the playbook and suggestions he has to improve the Offensive Line so they can protect him better and how he can communicate to the OL what kind of blitzes he sees so they can block them better. BA also can leave the first string Offense in during preseason to help Brady get used to passing to our players.
April 11th, 2020 at 5:57 pm
Hope Joe and all your staff and the bloggers have a Happy Easter tomorrow and stay safe.
April 11th, 2020 at 5:59 pm
@SB
There will be a season…..with or without fans….perhaps at some neutral sites……but the $5BILLION in TV rights is too much to pass up…..Players, coaches & refs will all be tested before games…..
FYI on a previous article…..Joe agreed…..
As far as Brady not having enough time……..1 minute should do…..compared to what we have had….
April 11th, 2020 at 6:05 pm
As long as he can anticipate where his receivers will be, it will be fine. The CBA is not geared toward off-season training anyway, the other teams will be in the same condition.
April 11th, 2020 at 6:24 pm
None of us obviously know IF there’ll be a football season or not, but we can all keep positive thoughts about it. Lots of other ‘group activities’ are facing exactly the same challenges that the NFL is facing … schools, churches, etc. The beauty of Easter is that HOPE springs eternal.
April 11th, 2020 at 7:05 pm
Take it from me Danny Dimes, Tom Brady will never play snap for the Buccaneers, The NFL Season will be cancelled this year in 2020 and Tom will decide to retire and move his family to LA to pursue business opportunities then play a snap. PRO Sports as we know it will not be played until late 2021 at the earliest
April 11th, 2020 at 7:18 pm
Nice post DR.
He is risen.
April 11th, 2020 at 7:26 pm
HOPE is not a bad thing, Defense Rules. Never will be. Happy Easter, everyone!
April 11th, 2020 at 7:34 pm
All these Brady transition challenges are getting as old as Jameis talk.
April 11th, 2020 at 7:35 pm
Happy Easter Joe in Michigan!
April 11th, 2020 at 7:40 pm
Brady transitioning will be easier than Ndog getting used to no more JW.
April 11th, 2020 at 7:56 pm
Brady’s never before (other than Moss) had two guys with the catch radius of Evans and Godwin. Accuracy doesn’t have to be pinpoint. Jameis was barely accurate, he just turned it over too much.
April 11th, 2020 at 8:14 pm
Thanks SB, you too!!
April 11th, 2020 at 8:17 pm
I just love the comments about Jameis being inaccurate, it is just such garbage.
April 11th, 2020 at 8:42 pm
#FilmDontLie#
April 11th, 2020 at 9:10 pm
I agree with hope and all of your posts. Happy Easter to all!
I saw today where a top epidemiologist said she believed we are close to a vaccine than we may believe. She is targeting September. Seems kind of early but anything is possible.
NONE of us really know if there will be a season or not. TBBF makes an excellent point about money but in the end we’ll have to manage health first.
The major problem right now is not just the deaths but perhaps even more importantly it’s the hospitals!! It’s not the deaths or even the number it’s the grouping in bunches that could overwhelm the health facilities. Heart attacks, cancer all kinds of other things get neglected if Covid hot spots develop.
Spread out we can survive but in huge groups like NYC and other spots we might literally run out of hospital beds. But that’s gloom,
Let’s run with the ladies hope that we find a vaccine by fall. I wouldn’t mind a season that starts December 1st if we’re all healthy.
April 11th, 2020 at 9:26 pm
Nobody knows if there will be a season or not.
But OMG how bad would it suck to sign 43 year old Tom Brady and then theres no football season?
Worst case senario is football seasons cancelled and Tom Brady can do “TB12” to keep him healthy and the Bucs just extend him for another. Really don’t know how that would work out though.
April 11th, 2020 at 9:29 pm
But I do believe that Tom Brady has 1 more year left of elite football and then a drop-off to just pretty good football. This 1 year window is crucial for the Bucs if they want a chance at SB anytime soon.
April 11th, 2020 at 9:29 pm
Has Jamoist been signed yet?
Guess we made the right decision.
Joe must be embarrassed.
His boy is useless to all NFL teams.
#TomTerrific
April 11th, 2020 at 9:35 pm
For the record…Brady will be transitioning to a 7-9 team.
With the Pats he was transitioning from Michigan to a 5-11 Belichik coached team.
With BB TB12 was playing for a coach with one winning season in his previous six years and a 41-55 record.
With BA TB12 is going to be playing for a coach with a 56-39 record including last year’s 7-9 with the Bucs but not including his 9-3 winning record filling in that season for the Colts.
You guys can continue to worship at the altar of BB..defensive genius..as an HC I want to see what he does the NEXT five years. He has not won without Brady! That’s a fact not simply my opinion.
April 11th, 2020 at 9:43 pm
Stpete
Are you suggesting BA>BB cause that’s insane. Brady has a small window here. He’s 43 years old.
Bill Belichick went 11-5 with Matt Cassel
Bill Belichick was successful with Jacoby Brisset and Garrapolo (Both system QBs)
Belichick while in Cleveland lead one of the greatest statistical NFL defenses of all time.
I’m good with Brady. But no need to discredit BB along the way. The dude is a brilliant HC/GM and is one an entirely different level than Bruce Arians and Jason Licht.
April 11th, 2020 at 9:48 pm
Without Belichicks Patriots culture and his rare ability to build a complete team (something Jason Licht doesn’t know how to do) the Patriots would not be nearly as successful. Belichick ran the show. Brady stepped into an awesome situation and thrived.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:01 pm
you heard it here first folks from Danny Dimes himself, the NFL will cancel the season and baseball will never start either. to many people dying daily and no way to control this no one will go to a stadium and sit arm to arm with people with no vacine, get real…. perhaps you all will realize you do not miss football after all
April 11th, 2020 at 10:13 pm
TBBucs
I’m not suggesting ANYTHING. I’m just giving you the facts. If that disturbs you I’m sorry.
Technically BB did not go 11-5 with Cassel he went 10-5 Brady won the first game before blowing out his knee. But I’ll give you that ONE season.
He did NOT win big with Jimmy G or Brissett! That is simply innacurate information I suspect to try and bolster your opinion. THREE GAMES TOTAL!
In 2016 BB won 2 games with Jimmy G and ONE game with Brissett and you call that winning? Meanwhile that same season Brady went 11-1.
If you’ve followed my posts you realize that I have always conceded Belichik is considered a defensive genius. I’ve NEVER put that aspect down. I’ve also conceded that BB’s defenses certainly helped win those 6 rings. I’ve also given BB a pass on his SORRY record with the Browns because after all they are the Browns. But he only won five games his first year with the Pats. There IS a trend line there.
But facts are facts…your opinion is your OPINION. I’m going with the man who said…you are what your record says you are. Without Brady BB’s record has sucked except for the one year Brady only won one game and Cassel had to finish…and ONE year out of five in Cleveland. Again that’s 5 losing seasons out of six before Brady. That’s NOT my opinion it’s reality!!!
Now I’m not stating a strong opinion here…I’m stating NUMBERS REALITY…it’s not fake news.
MY OPINION is that I need to see how BB does without Brady the next five years. If he wins the same % or close to what he did with Brady fine…if he wins another SB…then he’s special. Until he does it without Brady…what has he done by himself? That’s all I’m saying.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:20 pm
BTW As a footnote to that Matt Cassell 10 win season..with Brady’s 1 meaning the Pats finished 11-5, they became only one of a couple of teams who posted 11 wins without making the playoffs.
They needed either the Dolphins to lose to win the AFC East or the Ravens for the wild card spot that final week. Both the Dolphins and Ravens won leaving NE out in the cold.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:35 pm
So if JW is do good why is he currently a member of the same team as Ryan Leaf and Josh Freeman?
April 11th, 2020 at 10:39 pm
There’s a reason Garrapolo and Brisset were so sought out after because ethye succeed in New England under Belichick, so even with limited sample size, yes I called that winning.
Belichick got Matt Cassel paid too when he took over the Cheifs.
I don’t think the term “system QB” should be a knock on Brady it’s just his style of play. He’s just an elite system QB. New England created a QB friendly scheme to plug QBs in and play and Brady was really good for what they did.
April 11th, 2020 at 11:07 pm
No it doesn’t Youngbucs but people do. That is why I find it funny people say that cause the film says otherwise.
April 12th, 2020 at 6:39 am
TBUcs –
Bellichick is a COMPLETE CHEATER!!! Thats why he is so good bc he cheats. Please spare me the crap, he got caught filming teams more than once and the last team was the Bengals.. lol..
Listen if you still think he is great then Why did he Need to CHEAT & film those teams. If it really didn’t matter to the results then why did they do it.. because it does matter for the End results.
I personally hope he is exposed can’t believe they still get a pass after getting caught again last yr!! & no fines from last yr that I can remember. They even had the guy on record trying to buy his way out of the Bengals incident.. they Astros of the NFL