Byron Leftwich: Helicopters Set The Tone
June 25th, 2021
Byron Leftwich
This represents one example why the notion of the Bucs now becoming the hunted team and having to adjust this season is a goofy premise.
Joe’s been saving various great insight from offensive coordinator Bryon Leftwich for months. Leftwich did an interview on NFL.com and Joe is just getting to carving it up.
So it’s opening day of training camp at One Buc Palace, Leftwich told a league video production, and he saw five helicopters flying overhead.
At that moment, Leftwich said he fully realized 2020 would be a season like no other with Tom Brady and he had to impart to his players that life would be very different — because the Bucs would be the hunted team and under heavy scrutiny.
“I gotta make sure that they understand what’s going to happen week in and week out. With every loss with every win, how we’ll be the best team in the world one week and we’ll be the worst team in the world the next week,” Leftwich said.
He went on to say the media was locked in on labeling the Bucs a dream team and fueling that perception leaguewide, whereas at One Buc Palace everyone just felt they had the 2019 team plus two additions: Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
The media was successful, per Leftwich, “We’re getting everybody’s best and we ain’t even done nothing yet.”
All the added attention to Tampa Bay meant players had to work harder to live up to their potential — and the expectations, per Leftwich. And it all came together. He noted how he and Brady always were locked in on preparing for December football from Day 1, understanding there would be growing pains along the way.
June 25th, 2021 at 9:13 am
That is really great insight that I for one never thought of. Really shows how mature and forward thinking Byron is at this point in his career. As well as how locked in he and Brady really are as a team together.
June 25th, 2021 at 9:16 am
Scotty Miller said the team got rolling when Brady added HIS plays & added “check-downs” pre-snap reads which Leftwich & Arians were not doing.
June 25th, 2021 at 10:01 am
I think Leftwich backs up the idea that many very good coaches were so-so players, and that the success of your playing career is not a good indicator of your coaching career. For every great player that became a great coach, I think their may be more so-so players who became great coaches.
June 25th, 2021 at 10:22 am
Great players rarely become good coaches. They tend to be perfectionists and will drive everyone crazy if coaching.
June 25th, 2021 at 10:36 am
Wow what a leader Byron Leftwitch is!! This mentality described above is exactly how you mold a Champion. X’s and O’s really dont mean a thing. Whats between the ears and whats in your heart is what truely make a Champ.
Byron is a total beast! We must keep this man on the Bucs sideline at all costs.
June 25th, 2021 at 10:54 am
BL is working MAGIC!!!!!!
he’s the next BUCS HC!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
June 25th, 2021 at 12:53 pm
What’s being missed is that BA tried to put it on Brady that presnap motions and the lack thereof were solely on Brady, but everybody with enough intelligence could see that it wasn’t. They were stubbornly sticking to BAs no riskit no biskit, which he didn’t make use of just like he has no use of TEs in the pass game. The offense didn’t begin to truly click until BA started to listen to TB about what makes him so successful. BAs offensive philosophy has always been full of turnovers no matter the qb and his stubbornness and refusal to making use of certain offensive options is the reason his teams never went but so far. It wasn’t until he relented and gave in to Brady did things change. He is as stubborn as Dungy and Lovie Smith . Luckily we had a qb with the pedigree that Brady has because nobody else would have had the pull with him to change that philosophy. Anybody else other than Brady and the Bucs wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl last year. People need to stop treating BA as if he’s sone kind of offensive guru or greater. Without Brady no team he coaches will win the Super Bowl let alone get there.
June 25th, 2021 at 12:56 pm
813 I always belived in Byron. But i did not never believe in the MAGIC you always told us about……..And then the play before halftime happened. Byron literally called the greastest play in all of NFL history……And as that play left me speechless with my mouth wide open I finally realized that Byron really could work MAGIC!!!
You deserve a lot of credit for being the one and only fan that believed in the magic through thick and thin!!! MAGIC cannot exist without belief!!
GO BUCS BABY WOOO HOOO!!!!
June 25th, 2021 at 1:03 pm
DavidBigBucs you should do yourself a favor and be sure to read Bruces new book when it comes out. Maybe then you can learn that this offense is was and always will be the biscuit offense…..And the greatest this offense displayed is not the work of one man. This offense is put together as a team with many great minds working in unison. Tom desrves tons of credit so does Bruce Byron and even Tom Moore…….and probably more guys behind the scenes.
The 2020 Bucs offense is a collaboration of greatness and Tom Brady could never do it on his own.
June 25th, 2021 at 2:44 pm
Scotty said checks, as in checks at the line of scrimmage, not check downs . @Pete The Medicated. Up that Thorazine drip a few.
June 25th, 2021 at 4:24 pm
Davidbigbuc…Brady has already talked about how he bought into BA’s system. Did BA and BL heed TB’s advice thruought the season, yes. It was a process, there’s no conspiracy here. We won a SB, enjoy it, instead of trying to find new ways to tarnish it.
June 25th, 2021 at 5:05 pm
Not trying to tarnish it but not giving BA more credit than he deserves. Pre snap reads were not part of the system and that’s what was messing things up in the first half of season. It was even asked by some announcers why they weren’t doing it since Brady thrived on it in NE. Brady might have bought into it because it allowed him to be more aggressive than he’s ever been but until BA finally curtailed it to fit Brady the offense was not efficient like it was the last 8 games of the season. If BA wasn’t forced to comprise the offense would continue to struggle, and without Brady there would be no super bowl trophy in Tampa. Just my opinion.
June 25th, 2021 at 7:57 pm
David, David, David
BA’s offense is very complicated and very few QB’s can run it to it’s full extent.
You are correct that Brady made the difference and that he did collaborate on minor little tweaks, but the offense is still BA’s.
TEAM does not just mean the players on the field, the coaching staff are involved in every play as well. Everybody has to be on the same page to make the magic happen.
Can’t wait to see what new pages are opened now that we’ve gotten more comfortable with the basics!
June 25th, 2021 at 8:01 pm
BTW
It would be great to declare the airspace over One Buc as a no fly zone. We don’t want any spying eyes when those new plays are incorporated into practice.
June 26th, 2021 at 9:00 am
The Bucs are the current Gold Standard in the NFL. If they play their game, they will be fine.
In all honesty, the Bucs defense will have a harder time during practice against Brady and the Boys then during most games. That is not Bluster, but fact.
That is a MIC Drop, Reality Check for the ” Target on their Backs BLAH BLAH statement. SO BRING IT ON NFL.
GO BIG BAD AZZ WORLD CHAMPION BUCS!!!!!!
June 26th, 2021 at 9:49 pm
We all saw the difference late in the season when they started implementing checks at the line and pre-snap motion… that can’t be argued.
The question is- who is the one who pushed to start doing that stuff? Or did they hold off on that u til Brady was more comfortable with the playbook?
Actually it doesn’t even matter. We know the offense is a mix of what they all like to do, with Bruce’s scheme as the foundation.