Talking To Tommy
March 31st, 2021
Recalls historic call with Tom Brady.
A little over a year ago, the most celebrated quarterback in NFL history decided to join a team that hadn’t been able to get out of its own way for the better part of a dozen years.
On the surface, it seemed like an award-winning baker preparing a wedding cake using sawdust instead of flour. Tom Brady… and the Bucs? What?
Of course, we saw history. We saw Brady almost by himself totally turn around an organization from woeful to Super Bowl champions. It is no understatement to suggest Brady taught the Bucs how to win.
And win they did. They won it all!
We all know about the famous phone conversation the Bucs first had with Brady, as both sides gauged interest in the other. The sales pitch didn’t take long. In fact, the sales pitch may have been coming from Brady as much if not more so than the Bucs.
Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians went deep on the conversation in that infamous phone call while appearing on “The Cris Collinsworth Podcast” this week.
It was like a phone call made in football heaven.
“He recruited us as much as we recruited him,” Arians said. “When we first started talking, he knew every single player. He knew the entire roster. You know, Tom doesn’t leave any stones unturned. He knew the whole staff. He knew about the income tax and the warm weather and all the good things that go with it.
“It was a very interesting phone call. I could hear the excitement in his voice. Obviously, he could hear the excitement in mine.”
It was then Arians informed Brady of his plan to have him learn the Bucs offense rather than having the entire offense (with each player having his own learning curve) try to master Brady/New England’s offense.
Arians said Brady was fully on board with this idea during the phone call.
“It’s just the verbiage,” Arians said he told Brady of the difference between his offense and the Belicheats. “We run the same stuff. We watched every throw you made the last three years. So I know you run almost everything we run.”
Brady’s response was very enthusiastic.
“‘Aw Coach, I’m all in,'” Arians told Collinsworth of Brady’s reply. “‘Coach, you have guys running wide open. Just tell me what to do.’
“It was a great conversation.”
The last comment by Brady that Arians recalled was especially interesting to Joe. What was Brady suggesting? Was he taking a shot at Mr. Entertainment, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston?
Was he suggesting Arians’ offense is easy to run since guys are open all the time? Was it meant as a major compliment to the Bucs’ receiving talent? Was it meant to remind Arians that Jameis had to dodge pass rushers while guys downfield were open and couldn’t connect?
This is all very interesting to Joe.
Regardless, the Bucs are Super Bowl champions. Joe sure hopes somebody recorded that phone call. It belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That one phone call changed Bucs, and NFL history.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:33 pm
It was truth
March 31st, 2021 at 12:41 pm
Guys running wide open and Winston threw it 40 times to the wrong team??
March 31st, 2021 at 12:56 pm
Let’s face it….
Tom Brady took Jameis Winston’s team and won a Super Bowl with it…..
Sure, he tweaked it a bit……but…..does anyone here think that Jameis with Gronk, AB & Fournette could win a SB?
Nope, I didn’t think so.
March 31st, 2021 at 1:01 pm
Nick2: Yes, exactly!
March 31st, 2021 at 1:07 pm
@Joe:
Story on Yahoo showing that TB12 got a fake tat of that picture of Coach Arians.
tickrdr
March 31st, 2021 at 1:17 pm
WinSTUNNED lol
March 31st, 2021 at 1:18 pm
Winston?winston? Man it’s super bowl or bust for winston. He’s got everything they said he needs now no more excuses!!!!
March 31st, 2021 at 1:32 pm
Hoping that our corners get to go up against Jameis Winston next season.
March 31st, 2021 at 1:34 pm
Why is there a need to bring up the former guy? Who cares if it was a shot at JW? I don’t think it was… this is really not very relevant.
March 31st, 2021 at 1:40 pm
Tampabaybucfan, I know you are just trolling but your logic makes no sense. In one breath you say Brady won with Winston’s team. But then say Winston would have won with players that WEREN’T on his team. Can’t have it both ways!
Even if we buy into your trolling statement of it being Winston’s team, it just shows that he couldn’t get it done with all the talent around him!
March 31st, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Windbag
How long have you been here?
Not long I guess.
It’s VERY necessary to remind people what this team had to deal with during the Soiled Messiah’s tenure.
It was hell.
March 31st, 2021 at 2:41 pm
No need to explain to the nuthuggers….the fact that it only took one year for a real Qb with the same (just about) roster to win the SB, says it all….
March 31st, 2021 at 2:48 pm
“Joe sure hopes somebody recorded that phone call.”
Haha, I was thinking the same thing before I got to that part.
March 31st, 2021 at 3:02 pm
Great Interview…check it out.
March 31st, 2021 at 3:28 pm
“‘Coach, you have guys running wide open.” My immediate reaction was TB12 was absolutely taking a shot at the turn over machine that is Jaymis Winston”
And along those lines, Sean Payton was taking a shot at the Bucs when he had Jaymiss come into the game and throw that gimmicky TD pass in the playoffs.
March 31st, 2021 at 3:36 pm
No, it meant the route combinations and the geometry of the plays was clever enough to scheme guys open.
March 31st, 2021 at 3:52 pm
TwoBucChamp
Where did I say Winston would have won a SB?…….I asked if anyone thought he could, even with the additional players Brady had.
For the record…..I don’t think JW can win a SB with any team. His turnovers are too costly.
March 31st, 2021 at 3:53 pm
That’s how I saw it
March 31st, 2021 at 3:55 pm
I’m still uncertain about whether we recruited Brady or if he recruited us. He knew our players, down to the last man. He knew our whole coaching staff, and a LOT more about the Bucs than that it seems. Obviously Tom saw a roster that he felt that he could win with, and my gut feel continues to be that he recruited us & we said ‘Praise the Lord. Sign here’.
Brady signed with the Bucs on Mar 17th, 2020. Suh re-signed shortly after that on Mar 26th, 2020. Gronk then signed a month after Brady on Apr 21st, 2020. I wonder if either of them (or Fournette & Brown) would’ve signed with the Bucs if not for Brady signing here.
March 31st, 2021 at 5:20 pm
DoooshLaRue Says:
March 31st, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Years.
Why? We’re a year removed. Who gives a shyte?
That said, I’ll still listen to Lovie Smith bashing all day long. 😆
So?
March 31st, 2021 at 7:09 pm
Five years of Jay Miss is like spending 5 years too long with the wrong woman when you know in your heart you want a divorce, but you keep trying to patch things up.
April 1st, 2021 at 7:02 am
Start Tom Brady in 2015 as a rookie with the Bucs with the same coaches and the same players. I seriously doubt we would have six Lombardi trophies lined up at One Buc Palace. Jameis Winston damn sure deserves his share of the blame for the record, but it’s hardly ALL on him, and nobody can fault him for lack of effort. The 2019 team would have been 9-7 with just a decent kicker. Brady added two more wins with upgrades at RB, RT, TE, WR, S, and K. I doubt Jameis would have made it all the way to the SB, but I’m certain the Bucs would have been a WC team. Show a little class. Blame him for the turnovers. Give him credit for the effort and determination no matter how bad the team was around him.
April 1st, 2021 at 7:40 am
Turnover margin with QBs is what did the trick. Jameis threw too too many picks and had too many turnovers. More turnovers than touchdowns die the Bucs in 2019.
Brady was TD:Turnover, 40:12 regular season; 50:15 regular season and playoffs. James was 33:35 in 2019. 30 picks, 7 pick sixes, five lost fumbles, and more negative plays held the team back from winning.
April 1st, 2021 at 8:19 am
The last comment by Brady that Arians recalled was especially interesting to Joe. What was Brady suggesting? Was he taking a shot at Mr. Entertainment, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston?
Was he suggesting Arians’ offense is easy to run since guys are open all the time? Was it meant as a major compliment to the Bucs’ receiving talent? Was it meant to remind Arians that Jameis had to dodge pass rushers while guys downfield were open and couldn’t connect?
——————————————–
It could be what you’re suggesting, but it could also be nothing more than an observation, and his desire to be the guy throwing to those open receivers. He doesn’t seem to me to be the type of guy to cast aspersions at guys like that.
April 1st, 2021 at 9:35 am
1sparkybuc knock it off the 2019 team would’ve been 9-7 with a better kicker 😂. Ok now what would the 2019 team have been with a decent QB?????????? I swear some of y’all lose all credibility while trying to defend this guy from criticism smh.
April 1st, 2021 at 10:51 am
Reading comprehension seems to be an issue with some here.
April 1st, 2021 at 11:03 am
I read it and I asked a question. What would the record have been with a decent QB??? You’re basically saying the kicker lost 2 gms how many did the QB lose????
April 1st, 2021 at 5:46 pm
Why do many of you compare the best QB to play the game to Jamais Winston? There is no current QB that sees the field as well as Brady, Mahomes is close. There are three QB’s in the NFL, Wilson, Mahomes and Roger’s, the rest in comparison are no different than Winston. Bucs got Brady and Bucs may see Winston for 2 games this year with a very good coach. I do doubt Bucs see him 3 times.
April 2nd, 2021 at 1:43 am
I would say, a well deserved shot at Winston!!… Miller is a heck of a football player and I saw Winston TOTALLY miss him over and over and OVER while this site blamed it all on Miller and wanted him benched and even traded…. Man I could just sit here and list things y’all were wrong about because you bet with your hearts and not your eyes!!! You know Winston, I think he’s fake but he acts like a good guy…. you had an emotional attachment to him!! So when he OBVIOUSLY messed up you blamed everything else, the blocking, the defense,.. Miller!! …. Start writing about what you see instead of what you feel!! I could see the potential in Miller right away and my comments in the past if you could pull them up would prove all that I say in here!! .. Winston was horrible for Arians system!! It was like trying to make a lit match tell the dynamite not to explode!!…. In a dink and dunk system that occasionally goes deep I think Winston will do ok.. just ok… Game manager at best that could throw the game away for you if you need to count on him… INACCURATE (was ALWAYS my biggest complaint about him), bad decisions, looks shaken and over hyper all the time, stares down receivers and can’t make more than 2 reads without having to run out the pocket, over throws just about every pass (bring your step latter and back plates with you when catching Winston passes), NEVER wants to check it down…. He’s just not a good QB …… But yeah, I think that was a shot at Winston!! Lol