Background studied.

Really cool info here from retired NFL stars on the mindset of park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, jet ski-losing Bucs quarterback Tom Brady.

In a neat piece by Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, Farmer contacts four former quarterbacks for their take on what makes Brady such a good quarterback and why he has the once downtrodden Bucs on the cusp of a playoff run.

The coolest thing was reading how Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young is convinced that Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians and Brady were on the same page way before the season started, and that Brady is good with Arians calling him out publicly when needed.

And per Young, it seems Brady actually encouraged Arians to do this, sort of like a reverse-Bobby Knight tactic.

(Knight was known for pulling star players aside individually to tell them he would be a hard@ss on them in an effort to motivate lesser teammates.)

I love that Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians — obviously he and Tom have chatted about, “OK, if you don’t play good, I’m going to call you out.” And Tom’s like, “Yeah, do that. Make sure that I’ve got to come down here and be accountable.” And that’s what they’ve done. To have Bruce Arians in postgame go, “Mike Evans was open. He didn’t get him the ball. Evans was open a number of times.” Laid it right on Tom. And I think that Tom knew. Tom’s encouraging that. “Let them know that if I don’t play well, I didn’t play well.”

It’s not concocted. It’s because that Tom understands that at my age, my wealth, my wife, and my history and my success, to come to Tampa and gather people around me to actually go fight with me, is to give them that sense of truth that I am accountable.

Well, of course it’s concocted. Brady might be genuine in wanting the team to rally with him, but if this is remotely rehearsed or discussed beforehand, then it’s concocted. Come on, Steve, that’s the lawyer in you talking there.

But Joe does like the result.

Young also believes a reason Brady has his teammates eating out of his hand is the style of quarterback he is replacing. Young suggests Brady’s laser-focus on precision and detail is such a change from the fun, exciting backyard ball YouKnowWho was known for.

That’s why he can come to Tampa, a team that’s used to a guy going in and playing ball and throwing it around, and he can say, “No, no, no, you guys don’t understand. The job is 10 times that.” And everybody gets energized around him.

Then there is former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon. The former NFL MVP marvels how Brady has gone from one organization to another virtually without a hiccup.

Going to Tampa Bay was a dramatic change. Different play-caller. Different verbiage, terminology, system, players, culture, environment, discipline.

To me, the hardest thing going from Kansas City to Oakland was the lack of discipline and structure. It drove me crazy. Every day I walked out to practice, guys were late, guys didn’t care. I never dealt with that in Kansas City. I was like what is this?

Now to be fair, Gannon did not suggest dudes with the Bucs were blowing off practices and lazy. Joe’s pretty sure that went out the door when offsides-jumping, Lightning-trolling, belly-shirt-wearing, practice-hating, kicker-heckling, tree-grinding , non-contact-football-loving, chicken-wings-grilling, playing-time-squawking, TV-cooking-star, half-sack Swaggy Baker and DeSean Jackson left the premises.

Regardless, Joe thinks it is nearly impossible to disagree that Brady is a key reason why the Bucs are 7-3 and staring at a playoff run as they prepare to host the Rams tonight at the Den of Depression.

Young also stated how obsessed Brady is with football. He said he knows people in Brady’s inner circle who have told Young how each hour of the day in March and April are mapped out all related to how Brady can improve himself football-wise. It could be training, diet, film study, research. Each day, each hour is devoted in some way that Brady can improve.