Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers starters will play in preseason opener

Tom Brady will be playing in the preseason opener for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce Arians announced Monday. The Buccaneers coach will play everybody on his roster including Brady, who is coming off of offseason surgery to repair a torn MCL.

How long will Brady play Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals? That isn’t known. But the seven-time Super Bowl champion wants some meaningful reps this preseason.

“Everybody will play,” Arians said to reporters at Buccaneers training camp Monday. “We’ll just wait to see how it goes. It’s normally a drive or two. It won’t be many.”

How much action will Tampa Bay starters see this preseason

Tom Brady has not played in a preseason game since 2019 when he was with the New England Patriots. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed the NFL’s normal preseason schedule last season. One of the reasons why Brady will see action in Saturday’s game is the league’s decision to move from a four-game exhibition slate to three games.

Starting the regular season faster will be a focus for Arians this preseason, too. Tampa Bay pieced together a dominant playoff run, but it struggled to win early last season. The Buccaneers opened the season 2-3, including a disappointing loss to New Orleans in the season opener.

“Don’t know how much, but everybody will play (the first game),” Arians said. “The Titans week (Week 2 of the preseason), we’re going against them for two practices — then we’ll determine how that is as far as who plays in that one. The last one we’ll play a bunch (of players).”

Super Bowl hangover

Brady and Arians teamed up last season to bring Tampa Bay its second Super Bowl trophy in franchise history.

Now the duo are trying to hold off a Super Bowl hangover. Brady won back-to-back Super Bowls once in his career; he will try to accomplish that for a second time this season. First, however, Brady and Arians will have to make sure the offense is ready to begin the regular season.

“That was probably the worst offensive practice we had in three years,” Arians said. “Kind of a pattern of behavior, but after a day off — our offense just stinks. Dropped passes, missed assignments on basic plays. It’s just lack of concentration.

“They just got to grow up and man up — it’s been identified. You got to fix it.”