It’s only been two games, so you could never expect Tom Brady to have everything figured out with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady’s quarterback coach is acutely aware of that.
As seasoned of a veteran as Brady is, and even with as much success as he’s had, the 43-year-old still is trying to find his way with the Bucs. After a disappointing Week 1 performance, Brady and Tampa bounced back in Week 2, showing more of what people thought they would be when he signed with the Bucs.
So, how comfortable with the offense has Brady been?
“I think it’s clearly still a work in progress,” Tampa’s QB coach Clyde Christensen said Wednesday, via a team-provided transcript. “I’ve said before that at times it looks like he’s a guy running somebody else’s offense. Each week, each day, it gets closer to him running his offense – our offense, all of our offense. It’s going to take a little time. It was whatever the opposite of a perfect storm is, just not to have those reps in the offseason, not to have March (and) April to work through some of these kinks and to get to know each other.
“You wish that this was the second preseason game and you’re working through those things, but it’s not. We’re in the season and we just have to accelerate it. It’s happening, but it’s happening slowly. It’s not a done process yet. It’s certainly not done yet.”
Asked to pinpoint a specific area Brady has the most room to grow in, Christensen offered an interesting response.
“I think it’s just comfort. It’s not being comfortable with his receivers – he’s done a great job with that [and] the receivers have done a great job,” Christensen said. “They’ve logged a bunch of hours this offseason and they really didn’t miss their time. I think what it is, is just adjustments. ‘What do I do when this (happens)? What about when they don’t do it quite like what they practiced?’ It’s been impossible to get him every scenario, every situation (and) every look that he could possibly get. Then, all of a sudden someone does something that is un-practiced – you didn’t get a look at it – and where’s his answers? His answers have been one place for 20 years and now, maybe they’re somewhere else.
“I think it’s just getting comfortable with all the adjustments. The base thing – if you sat in three-deep zone, you cooperated, you didn’t disguise and everyone went where they were supposed to go, then we’d be fine. But, it doesn’t work that way. It’s just going to take some time – just the fine points of this thing. The hots – where’s your hot? Where’s your check down going to be? All those different things.”
Brady and the Bucs now will meet the Denver Broncos in Week 3.
