With the addition of Tom Brady apparently came a new standard in Tampa Bay.
Not only is Brady arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history, the six-time Super Bowl champion also is one of the best leaders the game has ever seen. This strong leadership has been on display throughout Buccaneers training camp, and it could help the franchise end its lengthy playoff drought.
Brady recently took center stage among his new teammates who all came together for a players-only meeting. TB12’s speech featured a point of emphasis that all premier athletes surely would co-sign.
“You gotta show up every day,” O.J. Howard recalled while speaking with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “There’s no days off. With a lot of guys in general, for me, playing football over the years, when you have so much talent, it can get to the point where you start going through the motions, because you can depend on someone else to step up and make a play. But it shouldn’t be that way. It should be everyone on the same page, everyone coming with their hard hat every day.”
Wide receiver Scotty Miller added: “Tom, he expects us to come to work with a lot of energy and to compete every single day. And we set these goals, and we gotta put in the work to achieve these goals. That’s what he expects from us every single day, to go out there with our goals in mind, give it our all and compete with energy. If we do that, as you know, we got all the talent in the world, all the talent we need to get to where we want to go.
“That’s what Tom wanted out of us—we cannot take a day off, ever.”
The Buccaneers certainly have no room for complacency. They face a tall task in trying to claim the NFC South crown over the New Orleans Saints, and even a Wild Card spot will be a challenge given the competitiveness of the conference.
But with Brady now leading the charge in Tampa, it’s tough not to be high on the Bucs’ chances of reaching the postseason.
