Warren Sapp: Tom Brady Runs The Offense
September 18th, 2021
Bruce Arians’ opening-day embrace of Warren Sapp on the field of The Licht House.
Joe wouldn’t be writing this if Buccaneers legend Warren Sapp didn’t have a pipeline to Bucs coaches, true insiders and Team Glazer.
If that wasn’t the case, then Sapp would be just another guy with an opinion on who runs the Tampa Bay offense.
Loyal readers here and listeners of The Ira Kaufman Podcast know Joe has explored deeply the balance of power within the Bucs offense during the Bucco Bruce Arians regime. It’s complicated and always evolving no matter what anyone admits.
Sapp was asked on WDAE radio this week to name who runs the Bucs offense — Arians, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich or Tom Brady.
“[It’s] Brady’s,” Sapp replied on Beckles & Recher. “This was the whole reason Bill Belichick never let Tom Brady put his hand in the soup or anywhere around what he was making. That was the thing. Once you let a four-star general in the kitchen he’s going to want to give orders, too. But I will tell you this. The greatest thing they have is [quarterbacks coach] Clyde Christensen. That’s the buffer. Because Tom is wise enough to know I yell through Clyde Christensen to get to Leftwich, old-school, big-calf Clyde.”
Again, Joe wouldn’t put stock in Sapp’s take on this subject if Sapp wasn’t on the field last week chatting it up with Bucs co-owner Joel Glazer, Rondé Barber, Arians (see photo) and others, in addition to Sapp’s communication with those that have knowledge of the team’s inner workings.
Yes, any healthy offense features plenty of what the quarterback desires. But Joe figures the whole truth on how the Bucs offense is managed/crafted will come out in a book one day.
And Joe expects there to be a book because this offense should have truly historic production this season.
Enjoy today’s Ira Kaufman Podcast, presented by Bill Currie Ford.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:01 pm
should we really care who calls the plays when we’re scoring 30+ points a game….you play to win as a team.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:13 pm
We’ll never know the full story till at least one of them leaves or retires.
I personally don’t care much as long as we continue winning!
September 18th, 2021 at 8:20 pm
Sapp doesn’t know crap.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:30 pm
Each individual on our team is doing his job, the misconception is a job is exclusive to the person running that section or head of that position the responsibility may fall on them but as it is on the field it is in the coaching a team effort. As our defense is self less in it’s pursuit of being the best so should the coaching, a comparison would be Vita last game was the most dominate player on the team but had virtually no real stats, but was responsible for the success of the teams victory. We are fortunate to have a team of players who have put their pride aside for the good of the team. This concept starts with the head coach and trickles down the coaching staff allowing a player to be more of themselves makes them more dangerous in that they have a natural flow which is much quicker and more decisive, the key of the coaching staff is to make sure they stay in structure of the game plan. Allowing Brady to control the offense and even the players make him less inhibited in his actions and much quicker and decisive which we are seeing now.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:41 pm
BL is the MASTERMIND!
😀
Sapp is a blowhard BTW, but he’s right on this I do believe.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:42 pm
Sapp was the best player to put on a Bucs uniform along with Selmon
September 18th, 2021 at 8:44 pm
Is that Ron Diaz above me doing his monologue? ⬆️
September 18th, 2021 at 8:46 pm
Why is this such a debate? Why are some people so hell-bent on diminishing BL? It’s stupid.
It’s so blatantly obvious that BL runs the offense and takes a lot of input from Brady and probably BA too. TEAMWORK, what a concept.
They’re scoring 30 points or more a game and winning – so who cares?!
Do you really need to know exactly what percentage BL’s in charge of and what percentage Brady audibles to?
F’ing enjoy the ride people
September 18th, 2021 at 8:50 pm
David,
That sounds great but I just heard BA say that the first TD to Gronk was because TB made it happen.
Apparently Gronk wasn’t even supposed to be in on that play.
I guess the MASTERMIND didn’t coordinate that too well huh?
September 18th, 2021 at 9:05 pm
Leftwich calls the plays but Brady has the authority to overrule him and rightfully so. We saw the results of it on the last drive.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:09 pm
Sapp needs a new wardrobe or is that an old Joe Pic?
September 18th, 2021 at 9:10 pm
Sapp is a blowhard.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:14 pm
bill Says:
September 18th, 2021 at 8:01 pm
should we really care who calls the plays when we’re scoring 30+ points a game….you play to win as a team.
When you have to make excuses for winning like you do for losing lol. That’s when you care huh haters.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:18 pm
Sapp needs a new wardrobe or is that an old Joe Pic?
Nope. Sap was wearing that Thursday night. Here’s Joe’s Instagram pic of the same scene.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:20 pm
It’s truly sad how obsessed some people are with diminishing the work of Coach Leftwich. Warren Sapp was a great football player and a scumbag of a man. I wouldnt believe anything he says.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:23 pm
Leftwich does a fine job on his own diminishing whatever it is he does each week when he takes questions.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:37 pm
Tom Brady is older than 13 of the active head coaches in the NFL, and he’s slinging it better than anyone right now. Can anyone fault Arians or
Leftwich for giving the reins to the dude? This offense has a realistic chance of being the best in the history of the NFL.
Go Bucs.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:40 pm
Every one gets the concept that a oc job is to discover the weakness and what works against the opposite by watching tape I’m sure Brady has a great idea and he probably watches Tape 2,,so I’m not a big Leftwich fan but I’m sure the 15 best plays of scripted then they make adjustments from there I’m a huge Brady fan so I guess in my opinion brady told Leftwich what plays he likes what he thinks work and the situation that they’re in so I do think it’s a team effort even though I like to think it’s all Brady,so as far as who runs it,,, collaboration!!!!!
September 18th, 2021 at 9:59 pm
I don’t think Brady needs Clyde to be a buffer. If Brady has something to say to BL he gonna say it.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:19 pm
Did you really think it’s Byron? I believe he’ll be a successful HC when I see it.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:23 pm
Its funny we are waiting on a book to come out when there are many interviews, tv specials like no risk it no biscuit of people currently within the organization saying BL is calling plays. These same interviews have stressed countless times brady didnt even have the terminology down until after the bye. If all these interviews/shows were false, wouldn’t you think players who are currently on the team to speak on it? One thing players dont like is coaches who lie so dont you think this would be a problem if the coaches were lying about this? Hell BA said not every int was the last qb fault. You know what happenend? Godwin came out and said only half was the other qbs fault. If BA was lying, you think a player would take kindly to the coach throwing him under the bus for running wrong routes for someone else mistake? Qbs calling audibles at the line of scrimmage based on how the defense is lined up is as old as the nfl itself. If we are now going to say because a qb called an audible then that means he runs the offense then that would mean no offensive coordinator in the history of the nfl ever called the plays. That would be stupid just like this topic
September 18th, 2021 at 10:40 pm
You can tell when Brady is calling the plays – because the offense moves at will, everything happens fast and is in a rhythm. You can then tell when Leftwich is calling the plays, because it’s run up the middle on 1st down, then followed by a slow plodding attack – they might get a score out of it, but they’re taking the clock all the way down, etc. When Brady is in charge, the ball is being snapped with about 15 seconds on the play clock.
Just watch tomorrow, and you’ll see what I mean. Brady will run some plays, get a rhythm going, won’t be changing personnel and will eat up yardage. Then Leftwich will pour cold water all over it, things slow down to crawl and the ball is being snapped with 2 seconds on the play clock.
If Leftwich would get out of the way, or better, actually support what Brady is doing, we’d probably average around 38 points a game instead of 30.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:41 pm
Cannon Says:
September 18th, 2021 at 9:37 pm
Tom Brady is older than 13 of the active head coaches in the NFL
——–
Really? I’ve never heard that before. NFL coaches are that young? It was a big deal when Dungy got hired, he was so young, and he was like 42 I think at the time. Obviously Gruden was even younger, but 13 headcoaches are under 44? That’s pretty amazing.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:41 pm
Sapp was probably buzzing in this interview.
September 18th, 2021 at 11:01 pm
Rod i guess when brady was micd up last year when the bucs was moving the ball at will and he told BL you are hot and whatever you call im running it was in fact brady actually calling the plays? So in your mind, when a play sucks, its BL calling the play but when its successful, brady is calling the play. Whatever helps you sleep better at night i guess
September 18th, 2021 at 11:41 pm
@Rod
Sean McVay
Zac Taylor
Brandon Staley
Arthur Smith
Kevin Stefanski
Joe Judge
Nick Sirianni
Brian Flores
Kyle Shanahan
Matt LaFleur
Kliff Kingsbury
Robert Saleh
Matt Nagy
Pretty crazy :O)
September 18th, 2021 at 11:52 pm
Sapp was useless against the run, was largely ineffective by the time he was 30 or so. I strongly suspect roids
September 18th, 2021 at 11:56 pm
Man, can you imagine if Sapp had Vita lined up next to him back in the day?!?
September 19th, 2021 at 12:17 am
I wouldn’t exactly take Sapp at his word. First, he’s absolutely wrong when he says Brady didn’t have a hand in the Patriot offense. Brady and McDaniels ran that offense. Belichick had less to do with it than either of them. As far as the Bucs offense, I agree with the author that “It’s complicated and always evolving”. It’s a unique situation having Brady here with all of his experience. I’m sure its a collaboration but as we all saw last week, Brady’s the guy on the field so he has the final say on what play the offense is going to run based on the defensive look he’s seeing.
September 19th, 2021 at 12:46 am
Rightfully so is Brady ; he is the ultimate field general and his resume speaks for
Itself . When you have, literally a generational guy like tb12, you swallow your pride , get out of his way and let him do what he does best . No shame in that whatsoever . I give credit to Bruce and Byron in realizing you have the Michael jordan of football and to support him to the best of ones ability cause when Brady goes , the team goes!
September 19th, 2021 at 12:52 am
Probably in crunch time, Brady insists on plays he feels comfortable with. Mostly it’s the same brand we saw last year. They make adjustments when they’re looking to win from behind. In defense, coach bowles went to the same blitz tactics.
September 19th, 2021 at 4:08 am
He’s trying to stir something meh
September 19th, 2021 at 5:49 am
Brady should be running the offensive line. 20 years as a quarterback and with multiple mvp’s and 7 rings, there is no quarterback as well knowledged on how to run an offense. At this point an offense coach is just there to give advice to Brady if he needs it. Of course arians runs the show but I think he gives Brady the reins and jumps in when he feels Brady is not performing well enough to his liking. That is why Brady is so happy being a member of this team and will stay with them until he physically can’t do it anymore. He may play until he is 50 or if he has a bad offense that he can’t work with but I really don’t see that happening. Every one of those guys who took pay cuts and to stay with Tampa believe in him and that says a lot about the trust this team has in him as well as the coaches. I knew the minute it was announced that Brady was coming to Tampa bay that they were going to the Super Bowl. I believe this team will do it again and will go with the best record the franchise has ever had and quite possibly go undefeated. That is why he is the goat
September 19th, 2021 at 5:51 am
This whole subject of who’s calling the plays has become way overblown. All that matters is that the Bucs have settled on a system THAT WORKS. If it keeps working, they’ll stick with it. If it stops working, more than likely they’ll modify it. Do what works; Wow, what a concept.
September 19th, 2021 at 7:03 am
lol… the BL& BA send in plays they know TB would be likely to call in any particular situation, sometimes TB sees and feels something different and audibles and other times the sidelines & booth tells him that they see something…no different than any other elite HOF QB relationship with the coaches, my opinion
September 19th, 2021 at 7:48 am
Can someone translate what Sapp said? What point was he trying to make other than spew some metaphors that don’t make sense.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:13 am
In the Cowboys game, Tom Brady was seen and heard saying “NO” to a play called in by Byron Leftwich.
If there was ever any doubt as to who was really running the offense, that ended it.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:28 am
Beeej…Sapp..Roids? Have you ever seen Sapp in person? He is a big guy, but not all muscled up. He is a freak of nature… a former track guy and all state TE in HS. A freak in college. A freak in the NFL. Yeah.. he was a big guy. But he wasn’t all six packed up or muscled up. He was “country strong”. I really don’t think that was a result of Roids.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:30 am
I am sure Byron Leftwich L is no shrinking violet when it comes to interacting with Arians, Moore, Christensen, Licht or Brady. Under the leadership of BA I believe the interplay of egos is being handled masterfully. The culture as it applies to virtually everyone in the franchise exudes teamwork and class at this point in time. This is why a few people, including yours truly, have been touting the Buccaneers of “Champa Bay” as having the potential to dethrone the long standing Cowboys as America’s Team. Of course we have to have a couple of more Super Bowl wins in the next few years to see that actually occur. Collaboration is for winners.
Sapp was a great player and I still love him, warts and all, but he does not have the football insight of either Brooks or Barber.
I enjoy listening to Warren talking football, nonetheless.
September 19th, 2021 at 8:56 am
I partially agree with Chris’ point. But my point is it is TEAMWORK – BL called the play, TB called it off; that is team work. BL’s job is to feed plays, have a game plan; TB’s job is situational football, Brady has final say OF COURSE, as he is on the field and has 22 years of exceptional experience. Why is that so hard for people here?
@ Joe: “…Leftwich does a fine job on his own diminishing whatever it is he does each week when he takes questions…”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
THAT was funny – made me literally LOL. My new theory on why BL will never be a HC. How on earth does he get thru the job interview?!
September 19th, 2021 at 9:10 am
Just Win!
September 19th, 2021 at 9:17 am
Ok whoever is calling the plays, please stop 6 times to start drives, you run up the gut,
That sounds like BL in 2019 and 2020,, do not think Brady would do that.
But let me ask you this?
Who has the ball in his hands every play?
TB12, so we know that there is a lot of the plays being run, will be initiated by Brady and what he thinks is best for the moment.
And then we know BA will jump on the headset and tell them what to run, as has been stated in the past, by BA and BL.
GO BUCS!!!!
September 19th, 2021 at 9:17 am
Ok whoever is calling the plays, please stop 6 times to start drives, you run up the gut to start the game like against Dallas.
That sounds like BL in 2019 and 2020,, do not think Brady would do that.
But let me ask you this?
Who has the ball in his hands every play?
TB12, so we know that there is a lot of the plays being run, will be initiated by Brady and what he thinks is best for the moment.
And then we know BA will jump on the headset and tell them what to run, as has been stated in the past, by BA and BL.
GO BUCS!!!!
September 19th, 2021 at 10:24 am
I can guarantee BL ain’t worst than Dan Campbell in front of the media….
BL IS WORKING MAGIC!!!!
Joe why do you have an axe to grind with BL?…did he walk in on you while you were peeing with your pants down?…lol…
BL will be our next HC….
GO BUCS
September 19th, 2021 at 10:32 am
It’s simple…..He comes across as dumb 813.
But he is still the MASTERMIND!
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
September 19th, 2021 at 10:35 am
Roflmao, Ben is rather amused by the pretzel twisting arguments. Just admit that it’s Brady’s show. He picks the plays that are called. Leftwit is just regurgitating them. Wtf do you care anyway? You’re one of the true door mat franchises in all of north American sports, yet you have an ego when it comes to celebrating coaches that only have jobs because Brady’s here. Brady isn’t going to throw coaches under the bus now or ever. He did make leftwit look like a child when he shook his head no vs. Dallas. Hugs and kisses Ben
September 19th, 2021 at 11:56 am
As long as the Bucs keep scoring 30+ points a game, I don’t care who’s running the offense. If it ain’t broke, don’t f*** with it.
September 19th, 2021 at 1:05 pm
webster Says: So in your mind, when a play sucks, its BL calling the play but when its successful, brady is calling the play.
————
Pretty much.
6 series to start the game, 6 runs up the gut. 17 yards, fumble.
That’s Leftwich for you.
September 19th, 2021 at 2:22 pm
Pewter,
In the big scheme of things I agree with that.
Winning is what it’s all about.
The problem for me is when people want to anoint BL as a great OC/ Should be HC when it’s obvious he’s not that great of an OC and the HC chatter is motivated by other reasons I’m certain.
Most reasonable people just don’t see him as being worthy of the accolades.
He’s OK.
He’s not great.