Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady recently drew attention to the bigger reality amid his team’s adjustments to Hurricane Ian.
“Keeping Tampa Bay in our thoughts and prayers. Be smart, stay safe,” Brady wrote via Twitter on Tuesday, September 27.
Brady and the Bucs will practice in Miami as the Category 3 hurricane approaches Tampa. The Bucs also “invited players’ and coaches’ families to join them in Miami” during the hurricane per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. Where the Bucs will play on October 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs remains in doubt due to the hurricane though it’s still scheduled for Tampa as of Tuesday.
In 23 seasons, Brady said this experience is all new for him when he visited with Jim Gray on the “Let’s Go!” podcast on Monday, September 26.
“We had COVID for a couple years and now with this [it] seems like a pretty intense hurricane coming our way. I don’t think Tampa’s probably, I don’t think any place is very well suited for a hurricane to hit, but everyone in this area will be in our thoughts and prayers as we go through it,” Brady said on the podcast.
Brady talked about his own personal preparation for the impending storm before he left for Miami.
“I don’t think that anyone’s really prepared for this,” Brady told Gray. “I know I’ve been preparing all morning and get all my stuff outside, try to put it inside, try to get all the stuff on the ground level up a little bit higher. I’m right here on the bay so they’re talking about pretty high storm surges and it’s a scary thing. I will say that it’s a scary thing when it really hits your doorstep.”
Brady Won’t Accept Excuses
Brady acknowledged that “our team is going to have to adjust” and will need “to stay adaptable to the situation”, but he won’t accept excuses.
“When you are dealing with some of the things that we are going to have to deal with this week, there’s built in excuses that should never be excuses for anything,” Brady told Gray. “We’ve got to approach the week with a championship attitude that no matter what we face and no matter who plays, we’re going to have to go out there and find a way to win the game.”
The Bucs face one of the league’s toughest teams in the Chiefs, which comes off of a stunning loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Kansas City beat the Bucs in their last regular season meeting in 2020, but the Bucs bested the Chiefs amid a depleted offensive line in Super Bowl LV.
Brady Returns to Old Home?
If conditions don’t improve before October 2 for the Bucs to play at home against the Chiefs, Brady could return to his roots, depending on where the game moves to.
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reported that the NFL could move the game to Minneapolis instead of Miami because of “state resources” needed for hurricane relief. Brady’s mother, Galynn, grew up in central Minnesota, and Brady spent many summers there in his youth.
CBS Sports’ Shanna McCarriston floated New England, where Brady once played, as another option, though not mentioned by the league.
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Tom Brady Sends Heartfelt Message for Tampa Bay