Brady says he’s feeling best he has in long time
TAMPA — By the sound of his voice, Tom Brady may need to go to a silent count. Following practice Thursday, the Bucs quarterback wasn’t hoarsing around.
Physically, he said, he’s never felt better heading into the preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. But audibly, Brady may need to show some improvement before Saturday’s game.
“I can’t get it back,” Brady said in a raspy voice. “I don’t know. It feels pretty good in the morning, and by the time practice ends ... So, I’ve got to get my voice in shape, too. Along with your legs and everything else. You’re going to be barking out signals, and there’s a lot of people out here. Other than that, I feel really strong, really good.”
Bucs coach Bruce Arians said Brady will start against the Bengals unless rain from Tropical Storm Fred makes the playing surface too dangerous to risk playing the seven-time Super Bowl winner.
“Not the rain, it would be the field conditions,” Arians said. “That would be the only thing I would go out and check.”
His voice notwithstanding, Brady said he hasn’t felt this good physically entering a preseason in a number of years. After playing with a torn left medial collateral ligament in 2020 and winning Super Bowl 55, he underwent surgery in February and has practiced in training camp without a sleeve on his knee for the first time in more than a dozen years.
“It’s the first time in 14 years where I haven’t had to wear a knee sleeve,” he said. “Every picture I’ve had for 14 years has been a knee sleeve. In games, I’ll still wear a knee brace just because I want to protect kind of a vulnerable spot for a quarterback, you know, your front left knee. But it’s just nice to practice and kind of feel I can put a pair of shorts on and run out to practice.
“Last year, it was (trainer) Alex (Guerrero) and I taping it at 7:15 in the morning for an 11 o’clock practice, and after games I would
just wear the tape home, sleep in it. It is what it was and what I had to deal with. It’s good, though. Like I said, physically I’m feeling great, mentally in a good place. I’m just really excited to see what our team can become.”
A year ago, Brady not only didn’t have the benefit of preseason games, he was busy trying to learn the terminology of a new offense as well as developing chemistry with new teammates.
But earlier this week, the Bucs showed the evolvement of their offense under Brady by working on shifts and pre-snap motions.
“We were talking about end-of-game situations (Thursday),” Brady said. “I mean, a year go, three weeks into camp, I was still trying to figure out formations. What does Tampa right mean? I don’t even know what that means, and now it kind of rattles off your tongue.
“You know, it’s probably similar ideas and concepts, but they’re all named different. It would be kind of like English and Spanish, you’ve got to kind of literally learn a different language. You’ve got to learn what you’re doing, but then you’ve got to learn which players can do it and then you’ve got to study how defenses are doing things.
“So there’s a lot of different challenges you face, and for me, it’s been much better, much easier to kind of assimilate my way into camp.”