Tom Brady: “I’m as curious as anybody to see what it’s going to look like”

[Captain Fear]

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There may be no team this season as great a curiosity as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tom Brady is playing for a team not named the New England Patriots for the first time in 20 years. The Buccaneers are trying to snap a 12-year playoff drought with aspirations of being the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.

How’s it going to go? Brady is just as eager to find out as anyone.

“I think the thing about football is you got to go do it and earn it. And I would say I’m as curious as anybody to see what it’s going to look like when it’s real and we’re getting hit,” Brady said to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “When everything counts, everything’s a lot different. So, you know, OTAs are one thing, training camp’s another thing, preseason games are another thing, but the real deal is when there’s a scoreboard and the game counts. I want to go out there and play great.”

Brady compared the feel of training camp to that of summer camp. Without fans at practices, limited media presence, and an increased focus on keeping a lid on outside contract as part of virus precautions. He would have liked to have seen more time to get up to speed with his new team this offseason, but he’s excited to get rolling in a new environment.

“It’s been really fun working with the guys that I’m working with,” Brady said. “And I had so many great years with great players in New England and then to come down here and be embraced by a different group of guys. But, you know, I think the great thing about football players is it’s a tough, hard-nosed sport and if you’re not that mentally, physically, you’re not going to last very long. It’s been really fun and going to have to go try to make the best of it. I think I would’ve preferred to have the OTAs and more time, more time in the system but we couldn’t do it based on what was going on in the world. So, you know, we’ve just gotta try to make the best of it with what we can and see if we can go put it all together and try to win a bunch of games.”