The Tom “Brady Schedule”
May 19th, 2022
Saved NFL schedule makers?
You know who may have been just as happy as Bucs fans upon learning Tom Brady was returning as Bucs quarterback in March? Suits in New York, that’s who.
Appearing on Peter King’s podcast, two guys who built the NFL schedule, Howard Katz and Mike North (no, not that Mike North), confessed they breathed a major sigh of relief when they learned Brady would play in 2022.
North explained that with Jeff Bezos’ Amazon now in the mix dropping crazy cash to broadcast the NFL on Thursday nights, the NFL had Amazon, CBS, NBC, FOX and BSPN screaming for the best games. With Brady coming back, that added a few beans to the pot to help feed so many mouths, North detailed.
“That was great news for us,” Katz said. “Honestly, Tampa Bay has a great schedule. There were just a lot of great Tampa Bay games that with Tom Brady are all real special. Without Tom Brady, maybe not quite as special. … It was a lot of work, but we got to a better place.”
North said Russell Wilson going to Denver was a Brady unretiring-like moment for them as well. Wilson was on a lousy team in Seattle and his move to Denver made the Broncos a power overnight and created more premier games to hand the networks.
King called this the “Brady Schedule.”
“Megagames with Brady,” King said of the Bucs’ schedule. “[Bucs games] still would have been interesting without Brady, but they would not have been megagames.”
Now that everyone seems happy with the schedule, it’s time for Todd Bowles to figure out how to win these games. Like 10 or more, please.
Please, can someone pull foot-rubbing tight end Rob Gronkowski off the beach?
May 19th, 2022 at 8:13 am
Gronk did say in that video at the barbershop that he was going to make Brady sweat a bit with his decision but he made it sound like he was going to comeback. I feel like a lot of people have forgotten about that video.
May 19th, 2022 at 8:14 am
Brady is relevant so he makes our Bucs relevant…….could we be relevant without him?……probably not. It will be interesting to see what sort of residual effects Brady leaves on the Bucs.
Please, can someone pull foot-rubbing tight end Rob Gronkowski off the beach?
I hope that line isn’t a substitute for our “Gronk-a-day” article
May 19th, 2022 at 11:02 am
Residual effects? Yeah kinda like the residual effects of a CAT5 hurricane. Maybe we’ll find another goat QB to play for peanuts for 3 years. Does that sound likely to anyone out there?
May 19th, 2022 at 11:14 am
Tbbf
“It will be interesting to see what sort of residual effects Brady leaves on the Bucs.”
The Glazers have now seen what their capabilities are. Tom Brady single handedly turned this entire city around, not just Bucs fans. Jason Licht is in my opinion the top GM. The merchandise and media sales, I promise the Bucs franchise to continue being a contender. They know they can’t go back to 100 mile TV maps. Brady is Jesus, but Bucs and Licht will due what needs within the next few years post-Brady.
May 19th, 2022 at 4:15 pm
“They have a great schedule”. Said the exec and fellow co-conspirators who want 1. Brady to never play another SB, and to go away losing 2. to make a ton of $ with a “marquee” schedule as ridiculous as bad Marvel comics clusterf s, with no regard to the health of teams or the players. Cannon fodder for elites. And Bucs going to get the worst of it.
May 19th, 2022 at 4:33 pm
The NFL Big Cheeses know this is Brady’s last year, so expect them to milk it totally…
May 19th, 2022 at 6:45 pm
12-5 is on the way – division winner, 2nd seed NFC – archive it for reference in Feb 23