TAMPA, Fla. — Betraying mild irritation, Tom Brady denied a recent San Francisco Chronicle report that he makes revisions to the Bucs’ offensive game plan the night before the team plays.
When asked during his weekly media appearance Thursday if coaches are learning in real time of changes Brady implemented the night before, Brady said, “No. I have no idea.”
“Anybody can write anything and say whatever they want,” Brady added. “I’m not going to respond to every (report) — next question.”
The story’s author, Michael Silver, a longtime NFL reporter who has written books on Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Kurt Warner, wrote that Brady runs a separate meeting with Bucs skill players the night before each game.
During those sessions, Silver wrote, Brady “makes tweaks to assignments and formations and provides a revised blueprint — one which first-year head coach Todd Bowles, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and the rest of the staff are left to discover in real time once the game begins.”
Both Bowles and Leftwich say Brady holds those meetings and has since his arrival in Tampa, but denied they’re surprised by anything on game day.
“We know what’s going on in the meeting and we know all the tweaks,” Bowles said earlier this week. “The defensive guys meet by themselves as well. We have several position groups that meet by themselves as well to get on the same page together before a game. ... That’s not new.”
Similarly, Leftwich said he is “aware of everything.”
“We communicate every day on what we’re doing, what we think from the game-plan standpoint,” he said.
“Nothing has changed, status quo. The only thing that’s changed is that we’re not winning as much as we’ve won in the past, so I’m quite sure this type of stuff happens when these types of things happen.”
Brady, whose team enters Sunday’s game against the Bengals at 6-7, is in jeopardy of the first sub-.500 season of his 23-year NFL career. The Bucs offense, widely maligned for its lack of creativity and balance, ranks 28th in the NFL in scoring (17.2 points per game) and last in rushing (72.9 yards per game).
At 45, Brady already has attempted 579 passes and is on pace to easily eclipse his season high of 719 thrown last year.
“We’ve just got to win, end the noise, and winning fixes everything,” Leftwich said.
