Tom Brady is arguably the greatest quarterback to ever live, but he’s still not above the rules.
He was constantly reminded of this during his 20 years with the New England Patriots and that’s carrying over in Tampa Bay with Bruce Arians at the helm. Arians has coached legendary quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck and Carson Palmer.
He told reporters on Thursday that Brady ‘gets cussed out like everybody else.’
“He did a little bit (Wednesday) because he likes to throw the ball in walk-throughs and we don’t throw the ball in walk-throughs. But not very bad,” Arians said.
Brady’s small misstep is nothing compared to the unorthodox training camp situation and protocols with the COVID-19 pandemic. Rookies aren’t getting nearly enough exposure before getting thrown on the field and the absence of a preseason leaves the players with minimal live reps.
“Yeah he’s probably the least of my worries right now,” Arians said. “He’s where he needs to be. We need to get more live reps. Blocking, tackling — this game’s a blocking and tackling game. Fourteen days to block and tackle. Is that enough? And I hate tackling ourselves. We don’t want to road-block ourselves, but we’ve gotta get ready to play a game. I think that’s the biggest disadvantage — not being in pads and not playing fast.”
Brady’s experience will help, but the Buccaneers and every other NFL will enter a difficult transition with the regular season less than a month away.
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