It’s All About The Drive For Tom Brady
March 15th, 2022
Driven.
No, Joe assures you this headline has nothing to do with the drive between Tampa and St. Petersburg on the Howard Frankland Bridge, which seems to trigger the south Tampa community as a whole (see: Attendance, Rays).
It’s about the drive Tom Brady has to play quarterback. And to win.
On the night Brady Twittered he would return to the Bucs for 2022, Albert Breer of SI.com typed a piece that said it was Brady’s drive that took him from retirement and back into the hands of Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians.
… [A]nyone who knows Brady knows his drive to keep playing really isn’t from anything but his love for football, his teammates and maybe most of all an unparalleled passion for competition. And it’s not exactly shocking that he figured out it’d be hard to satisfy that passion outside of the sport, or that not satisfying it might be a particularly frustrating thing when he still has bullets in the gun (he’s said he thinks he can play until 45 for forever).
This is pretty much what Hall of Famer Michael Irvin said on NFL Network yesterday. Irvin, who had an unreal drive himself, noted Brady’s drive is perhaps unmatched. And Irvin noted it’s one thing to deal with that drive if your skills have eroded or if you can no longer play physically. With Brady, Irvin said, neither applies.
Brady is healthy and playing at an elite level. So for Brady to turn off that drive in retirement, Irvin said, is just about impossible.
And it was for that reason, he said, Brady coming back to the Bucs was no surprise to him at all.
March 15th, 2022 at 4:13 am
Thank goodness for us. Looks like he needed to find a little juice after the way we went out last season and the AB drama. I think his passion took a bit of a hit, both from a personal and professional standpoint. I think he needed to process retirement, with his wife and age beckoning, to realize he’s not ready to hang em up yet.
He should have won MVP last season. I think he ain’t leaving till he leaves a trail of scorched Earth for the way he got shafted and the way we went out (mostly because of injuries).
You better believe Karen Rodgers getting MVP made Brady think, “I took that personally!”
March 15th, 2022 at 5:15 am
I get it. I’ll be 66 this year and could retire but I already take off long weekends and a week here n there on trips with friends etc. I have a lot of people that depends on our small business and I think I’d go nuts without work to keep me busy. I would think as driven as Brady is he probably didn’t know what to do with himself during the offseason not prepping for the next season.
March 15th, 2022 at 5:39 am
Very few people actually get to do what they love to do. And Brady also happens to get payed nicely for it. Again if you do a poll of the US population, very few actually do what they love, it is usually a means to an end, not what they love.
GO BUCS!!!!!!!
March 15th, 2022 at 5:59 am
The only question for me right now is, does this mean we’ll FINALLY see the G.O.A.T. don the Creamsichles for a game this season??
March 15th, 2022 at 6:11 am
Not until 2023, thats the earliest they will be able to wear original Buccaneer orange jerseys. Doug Williams and then in 2023 we will possibly see a certain GOAT grazing on the Turf in Tampa.
Maybe they can superimpose Bradys face on the helmet, so we would have Bucco Brady on the side with a Knife being clinched with his teeth. lolol
GO BUCS!!!!
March 15th, 2022 at 6:11 am
Doug Williams wore #12 also
GO BUCS!!!!!
March 15th, 2022 at 7:08 am
@lamchop Brady deff should have won MVP his stats were better and what Brady was able to do at the end of the season when all of his star players were hurt is ridiculous and mind boggling he didn’t win. I hope after the rams loss Brady comes in better n even more determined. Glad the goat is back
March 15th, 2022 at 7:16 am
I still remember the day that I retired after being an Air Force pilot for 26 years. Got some great advice from a dear friend who’d already gone through that transition.
He asked me a simple question that he said I’d have to find my own answer for: ‘What do you become after you’ve already been everything you ever wanted to be?’
Personally I think that’s where Tom Brady was, EXCEPT that he didn’t really have to answer that question, YET. He’ll have to one day, but not today. He believes that he can still compete at the highest level. Personally I believe that he can too, IF we surround him with a very strong supporting cast.
March 15th, 2022 at 7:19 am
August 1976 Buc … ‘Very few people actually get to do what they love to do.’
I agree. Wish I didn’t. It’d be a much better world.
March 15th, 2022 at 7:24 am
Barry Sanders is one that I’ll always wonder “what if”….he walked away still playing at an elite level. I’m convinced had he played as long as Emmitt, he would hold records that would never be touched, especially with how the game has evolved and RBs aren’t as valued anymore.
March 15th, 2022 at 7:52 am
Yes they railroad Brady by awarding MVP to ARodgers. Brady pondered on that pre n post retirement. Brady brainstormed on the conference loss to Rams with what was close to being another one of his miraculous comebacks. He ‘s had vengeance on his mind for quite some time now. It’s imperative that our offense, especially OL is elevated n much improved from last year. And, our front line defense must get more aggressive with more sacks on the qb or be consistent at applying pressure that leads to turnovers i.e., int, fumbles, etc. Brady’s gon have to bring the “Real HouseBunch of Tampa” to prove to the nfl that he’s in it to win it by any means necessary.
March 15th, 2022 at 8:01 am
Aaron Rodgers is taking note. He’ll retire next year for 42 days (the only stat he’ll ever own agains Brady). He’ll then return on the condition he can fleece the franchise for another $10 millie a year.
Team vs. Self
Brady vs. Rodgers.
March 15th, 2022 at 8:03 am
Brady is not unlike a musician, actor, artist, Doctor or Jet Pilot……he loves performing his craft….it’s much much more than a regular type occupation….
He’s the Mick Jagger of the NFL…..
He may just pass away on the field one day……and he’d be happy.
March 15th, 2022 at 8:08 am
A benefit of Brady’s “retirement “
was a test of the team’s tightness when the alpha dog was not in the mix.
Stuff we will really know about but certainly a test of everything Tom had been preaching and teaching while he was at OBP
March 15th, 2022 at 9:06 am
NBC Sports had a good article this morning about the Bucs. Their analysis …
‘After winning the Super Bowl in the 2020 season, the Bucs were able to keep their whole roster intact in 2021. But that just isn’t feasible this year. It’s a near certainty that Tampa Bay will lose at least one of those Top 100 free agents.
The good news for the Bucs is they can pour everything into trying to win this year. When the greatest quarterback of all time is coming back for his swan song, you’ll do what it takes, whether that means restructuring contracts to push cap space into future years, or trading future draft picks for veteran players who can help now.’
PLEEEASE don’t trade future high draft picks. Other than that, ‘Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead’.
March 15th, 2022 at 9:31 am
Hopefully we have the 32nd pick next year….. so I would be ok trading next years draft picks.
March 15th, 2022 at 10:50 am
Any chance of getting Ali Marpet to postpone his retirement?
March 15th, 2022 at 10:51 am
Defense Rules, salute to you my man. I hold military fighter pilots in very high esteem. Glad you’re a Bucs fan!
March 15th, 2022 at 12:36 pm
@DR Thank you for your service!