The Brady-Leftwich Paper Trail
July 2nd, 2021
Tom Brady and Byron Leftwich confer (screen shot from 2021 Buccaneers production In The Current).
There’s a plausible reason why Tom Brady wasn’t fined and punished by the NFL last year, and it’s not because he and Roger Goodell are such great pals.
Remember when Brady entered the wrong South Tampa home back in April of 2020? He busted through the front door of offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich’s next-door neighbor carrying large bags and, moments later, a very apologetic face.
This activity drew the ire of many NFL analysts and allegedly other teams.
Why? Players were under lockdown orders that didn’t permit coach-player meetings, in addition to all the government-lockdown rules. Per Leftwich, Brady was just picking up hard copies of the playbook, a mere five-minute exchange because he and Brady have a strong aversion to working with computers when it comes to football. Pencil and paper, Leftwich claimed, was a bonding point for them.
Joe bought the story (but only the paper-passing part of it), and it seemed the NFL was convinced enough to let it go as a non-meeting.
So fast forward to Week 10 of the regular season, and the Bucs had nearly a half-day delay at Tampa airport before departing to play the Panthers. This odd bonding time was captured during the recent In The Current miniseries at Buccaneers.com.
The photo above was just a quick background look of Brady and Leftwich at the airport. Joe found it noteworthy because Leftwich is holding what appears to be an orange highlighter while Brady has a giant binder supporting a giant piece of paper.
Man, this scene is so 1995. And it’s at least a little validation for anyone who questioned these guys’ love of old-school football prep.
Joe finds it very cool that the rest of the NFL is chasing a 44-year-old quarterback who still uses pencil sharpeners and notebook dividers. Joe wonders if Brady keeps white-out in his backpack alongside the organic dried mango slices and beet powder.
July 2nd, 2021 at 12:53 pm
The student and the teacher.
July 2nd, 2021 at 12:59 pm
I was waiting for someone to sue the NFL over this. Freedom of association is not their right to take away
July 2nd, 2021 at 1:15 pm
Wait a second it was week 10.
According to all the fans and analysts, Brady had already thrown out anything from Leftwich and was just running his own plays.
Brady did it all, Leftwich did nothing according to those experts.
The absurdity of that proposition.
Me personally, I am so glad we had great coaching to work with the GOAT at QB.
July 2nd, 2021 at 1:40 pm
When the local media covered it that night and interviewed the homeowner, my only though was what a Dbag he was. Any Bucs fan would know it might be perceived as a violation. He should’ve just had the private moment with Brady, shaken his hand, point him to Byron’s house, then STFU!
Calling the media was classless and attention-seeking. We’re lucky the NFL didn’t go harsh on the team.
July 2nd, 2021 at 2:05 pm
They are really saying…”I’m a better artist than you!” I think Byron drew a really nice picture of Devin’s horse.
July 2nd, 2021 at 2:29 pm
Geno that’s why BL is writing and Brady is making sure he has his play written out correctly.
I’m with you that notion is absurd. Incorporated more things Brady likes , like more play action and screen passing sure.
July 2nd, 2021 at 2:42 pm
Geno711..why does that picture above disprove that…i mean been watching brady 20 years ..know his style…they did change to that style …so brady could easily be telling this to his oc and oc writing it down..i mean bradys plays or style has to be learned by the offense and oc..brady cant keep it in his head…
July 2nd, 2021 at 3:23 pm
If you look close enough….. Brady is also wearing a pocket protector! GO BUCS
July 2nd, 2021 at 4:53 pm
Dooosh: Student (Leftwich); teacher (Brady)?
July 2nd, 2021 at 5:20 pm
The King of Credibility doesn’t like Leftwich, either?
July 2nd, 2021 at 6:47 pm
This picture really does tell it all lmao! I’ve beat this horse enough…I’m done until I hear Leftwich head coach rumors again.
July 2nd, 2021 at 8:15 pm
Wow what a story. Student and teacher seeing eye to eye and working together to get this offense firing on all cylinders. I do not blame the Byron ctitics for their loathing hate. After all, it did take a while to get the offense going and fans by nature are impatient.
But in the end Byron guided Tom and the offenseo the top of the football world. The proof is always in the pudding and Byron has proven himself as a top tier GM.
July 2nd, 2021 at 8:16 pm
And Doish thanks for the student and teacher comment. Hope you dont mind me stealing it.
July 2nd, 2021 at 9:15 pm
BL is ok.
July 2nd, 2021 at 11:17 pm
No idea why they have an aversion to tablets or what have you, but if it ain’t broke you don’t need to fix it.
July 3rd, 2021 at 2:12 am
it’s been all but proven that students of all ages, especially younger ones, retain information and learn better using pencil and paper as opposed to tablets. A multitude of papers exist on this subject, and while the neuroscientific explanations have not been fully worked out, there seems to be some anchoring and higher order effects involved with physically pressing pen to paper.
July 3rd, 2021 at 4:59 am
Let Brady call his own plays like Peyton Manning could.
In Tom, we trust.
Tompa Bay!
July 3rd, 2021 at 7:40 am
The physical act of writing things down is a huge learning and success tool. They did a study once of the MBA program at Harvard. Only 3% had an actual written out plan for their life. 10 years later those 3% were making on average 10x as much as those who didn’t have a written plan.
July 3rd, 2021 at 12:08 pm
TB forgot more about offense than Lefty will ever know. Lefty is no more than BA’s puppet. Mike28277 said it right between student & teacher. By the way its moron not maroon. Speaking of morons.
July 3rd, 2021 at 4:03 pm
Eric Bienemy of the Chiefs is puppet of his Head Coach. Like Byron Leftwich who is puppet of his own HC. [No need to go there. — Joe]
July 4th, 2021 at 9:44 am
Jimmy Jack said: Byron has proven himself as a top tier GM. Don’t you mean OC?