Brady was the missing piece for Buccaneers to reach Super Bowl– says Arians

Bruce Arians said he envisioned a trip to the Super Bowl after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed "missing piece" Tom Brady.

The Buccaneers are preparing for their first Super Bowl since 2003 as they look ahead to facing the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Brady, meanwhile, will be playing his 10th Super Bowl and looking for his seventh win. No other player has even featured in the game seven times.

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said the Super Bowl was on his mind after the team landed Brady.

The missing pieces for the Buccaneers

"I thought that was the missing piece and then Jason [Licht, general manager] did such a great job of adding pieces as we went along [with] Rob [Gronkowski], Leonard [Fournette], Antonio [Brown] and other guys. Ross Cockrell has been one of the best pickups we've had the entire season," he told a news conference on Tuesday.

"So yeah, I thought it was possible and that was our goal, because I knew how good of a football team we had and what we were missing.

"We were missing that belief that we were good enough."

The Buccaneers will be the first team to play a Super Bowl at their home stadium.

They are the fifth team all-time to win three road games in a single postseason, and three of the four before them won the Super Bowl.

Asked about Brady's passion for winning, Arians said the quarterback's approach impacted the whole team.

"I think the great quarterbacks all have it. They have the ability to will themselves on other people to make sure that everybody has bought in to the cause," he said.

"The cause is a ring – putting a championship in your trophy case. Tom brings that attitude every single day and it permeates through the entire locker room."