Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady talked glowingly of coach Bruce Arians on Thursday as the Bucs get ready to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in following week’s Super Bowl, saying “I think everyone wants to win for him.”
At 68, Arians will be the second-oldest head coach in a Super Bowl. He won two as a partner with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“He’s a great man. A great leader. A great person. A great friend,” Brady said of Arians, whom he got to know when Arians retired briefly and worked in broadcasting in 2018. “He’s very loyal. He’s just got a great way about communicating effectively with everybody around here.”
Brady built up an affection for Arians in the wake of watching his “A Football Life” documentary. It featured Arians’ move to become a first-time head coach at 60 years old with the Arizona Cardinals, his hard coaching style, his hatred for wading into politics and his desire to keep things real.
“Everybody has a great affection for him, for the person he is,” Brady said of Arians. “There’s nobody that would ever say anything bad about BA. He’s just so endearing to everybody. And I think everyone wants to win for him.”
Some had addressed how Brady was taking care of Arians’ style, with an incomprehensibly extraordinary demeanor from Bill Belichick that incorporates, now and again, calling players out publicly. Brett Favre and Rob Ninkovich, dear companions of Brady’s, even scrutinized Arians freely for it, with Ninkovich requiring his work.
In any case, Arians has consistently said, “It’s just honesty,” and Brady has said that he can deal with hard coaching.
“He puts a lot into it, expects a lot out of it,” Brady said. “He has high expectations for us every day at practice. Just really excited for him to be recognized the way that he is. I know he’s two-time [AP] Coach of the Year, but he’s really done an amazing job this year with the team in really adverse situations. I just love playing for him.”
The inclination is shared.
Said Arians of Brady during the Halas Trophy introduction after the Bucs won the NFC title: “The belief he gave everybody in the organization that this could be done — it only took one man.”