Sports Illustrated - USA (2021-12-15)

DEC. 10, 2000

Troy Aikman makes

his final NFL start.

APRIL 21, 2001

Tommy Maddox and the

Los Angeles Xtreme

win the first—and only—

XFL championship, the

Million Dollar Game.

SEPT. 8, 2002

David Carr, the

No. 1 pick of the

2002 draft, leads

Houston past Dallas

in the Texans’

inaugural game.

Brady, though, is nothing if not a pragmatist. Tampa

was a market with low-intensity lighting, and still a short

flight away from his son Jack, who lives in New York City.

Brady is also a football pragmatist. He saw a team with a

loaded defense, exceptional skill-position players and sturdy

offensive line. He also saw the opportunity for an invigorating

culture change. Arians, 69, was born within six months of

Bill Belichick but cuts a different figure—enjoying, as he

does, laughter, self-deprecation, motorcycle rides and a

reputation as perhaps the least autocratic coach in the NFL.

But that was only the start. Brady laughs as he plays

the compare-and-contrast game: “different conference,

different division, different coaches, different offense, dif-

ferent terminology, different players, different drive to the

stadium.” Determined that the divorce remains amicable,

Brady gently reroutes conversation about the Pats. But this

he will say: “Our team here, I think there are more voices.

And it’s fine. There’s different ways to be successful.”

With Brady, the Bucs started out 7–5. In New England

this might have marked a crisis. (“Belichick always had

a saying,” Brady recalls. “When you win, your quality of

life is better for everybody.”) In Tampa it did not. The

COVID-19-constricted season was supposed to be one

of transition for the Bucs; in 2021, they would really be

a cohesive unit. But then Tampa Bay didn’t lose another

game the rest of the season.

Before Super Bowl LV, Brady recognized a sort of power

imbalance. He had played in more big games than the rest

of his teammates, combined. So he sent a blizzard of texts

to them. Some were sent individually, some to a group.

Some contained motivational saws (process over perfec-

tion); some were concrete instructions about schemes or

observations that Brady had picked up while watching

film of their opponent, the Chiefs.

Licht recalls that hours before the game he took time

to try to savor the moment, to drink it all in, as his quar-

terback might put it. One season earlier Tampa Bay was

7–9 with an offense piloted by Jameis Winston; now, with

Tom Friggin’ Brady under center, the Bucs were in the

Super Bowl. The game was at Raymond James Stadium

(even if cardboard cutouts filled two-thirds of the seats);

no other host team had ever played in a Super Bowl.

Brady noticed Licht, walked over, sat down beside him

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FAMILIAR FEEL

Among Brady’s family attending his seventh Super Bowl

victory—and first with Tampa Bay—were Bündchen and

their two children, Ben and Vivian (opposite).