Tom Brady: “Hurricane Ian can’t be a distraction for the Bucs”
The Bucs evacuated Tampa Bay as Hurricane Ian hit Florida’s west coast. The club will train in Miami-Dade County for Week 4.
As Hurricane Ian lashed the eastern shores of Florida, the Buccaneers vacated their Tampa Bay training facility to temporarily relocate for safety reasons. Despite the mounting uncertainty looming over the organization, Tom Brady does not want to hear excuses for the Week 4 game against the Chiefs.
In his weekly appearance on the podcast Let’s Go, Brady explained that the Bucs have a complicated outlook, unrelated to sports, and clarified that Hurricane Ian’s impact should not be a distraction for the team’s next outing.
“I think when you are dealing with some of the things that we’re gonna have to deal with this week, there’s built-in excuses that should never be excuses for anything”, he explained. “We gotta approach the week with the championship attitude that no matter what we face and no matter who plays, we’re gonna have to go out there and find a way to win the game. So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s a huge test”.
At the moment the NFL does not plan to change the date of the match against Kansas City, scheduled for Sunday night. Given the busy week that the Bucs will face (they will train in Miami), Brady assured that the Tampa Bay team will adapt to any unforeseen event.
“The plan is, and things are kind of, you know, trying to adjust on the fly and preparations for an NFL game are pretty intense. This is a little different for me. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this. We had Covid for a couple years and now with this seems like a pretty intense hurricane coming our way. I don’t think Tampa’s probably, I don’t think any place is very well suited for a hurricane to hit, but everyone in this area will be in our thoughts and prayers as we go through it,” he said. “I know our team is going to have to adjust, go to Miami and practice there for the week, and then hopefully we can come back later in the week and play against the Chiefs Sunday night. So a lot of things can happen in a short period of time, and I think it’s suited for all of us to stay adaptable to the situation”.
According to The Weather Channel and NFL.com, Ian, already a Category 3 hurricane, could make landfall on Wednesday at night or Thursday morning. After that, it could start to lose strength.
Praise for the Chiefs
Meanwhile, Brady took the opportunity to recognize the talent of the Missouri club. He added that after falling unexpectedly at the hands of the Colts in Week 3, the Chiefs would seek to make amends against the Bucs (who have already won a Super Bowl against them).
“Great opponent, well-coached, great quarterback, explosive offense, great D-coordinator, a lot of talented players on defense,” he said. “They lost a tough away game, so they’ll be hungry. They lost a tough one on the road (to the Colts), so they’ll be hungry. They’ll kind of have a normal week of prep”.