Sports Media

Bruce Arians Confirms Tom Brady Struggled To Learn The Playbook

Scott Logush / NFL / May 16, 2021

Tom Brady really did struggle to learn the playbook during his first season with the Buccaneers. Head coach Bruce Arians may have taken some public craps on Brady throughout the year, but he confirmed that Brady’s struggles were real.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Bruce Arians when asked if Brady was struggling with the playbook, via joebucfan.com

Probably the Kansas City game. The second, third and fourth quarters [in the loss to the Chiefs] we started playing really, really well. From there on, we attacked. We took that attack-mode philosophy and I think we were on the same page from there on out.
Bruce Arians on when the playbook began to sink in for Brady, via joebucfan.com

The Buccaneers lost to the Chiefs in the regular season, but that was the last loss they’d experience for the entire season. After Tom Brady finally grasped Bruce Arians’ playbook, Tampa Bay ran the table and fittingly closed out their season by getting revenge to the tune of a 31-9 victory over Kansas City in the Super Bowl. After Brady finally stopped reading his wristband like his life depended on it, his greatest asset was able to shine.

I did pick on Brady for his mental blunders early in the season. Others were quick to jump on the early struggles and exclaimed how Tampa Bay was spiraling out of control. Turns out it was because Brady didn’t know the playbook, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers still won the Super Bowl. Everyone in the NFL had their chance to squash Tampa and try to cast Brady away as the old man who thinks he still has it. Turns out he does still have it, and everyone should be quaking in their boots for the 2022 NFL season. After he really had a grasp on the playbook, there was nothing stopping him and the Buccaneers.