Cowboys’ Week 1 opponent Tom Brady steps away from Bucs training camp
With exactly one month to go, the Cowboys-Buccaneers regular season opener just got a little more intriguing.
Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady will be away from the team for just over a week to “deal with some personal things,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles announced on Thursday.
And while the Buccaneers expect their now-45-year-old field general to return after the team’s Aug. 20 preseason game versus Tennessee, there is apparently no guarantee that Brady will be under center for their Week 1 visit to Arlington.
When asked, Bowles could only tell reporters that he has a “pretty high level” of confidence that the seven-time Super Bowl champ would be back in the lineup to face the Cowboys, a team he has never lost to in six career games.
From NFL Now: #Bucs QB Tom Brady won't be at practice for a while, though personally he is fine. pic.twitter.com/YINxgn9nUo
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 11, 2022
Bowles, a former Cowboys assistant coach, said that Brady’s absence was something that had been discussed well in advance of camp and classified it to media members only as “a personal issue.”
Brady had already been ruled out of playing the Bucs’ preseason opener Saturday versus Miami as well as the club’s second preseason contest. In the meantime, Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask, and Ryan Griffin are the team’s backup passers.
While news of Brady’s temporary hiatus will likely not alter the Cowboys’ long-term preparations for their meeting (Dallas has a joint practice with the Chargers, three preseason games, roster cutdowns, and the rest of camp to get through first), it does perhaps bear a small bit of extra attention.
Even though as the drama surrounding his short-lived retirement in February showed, nothing about Brady garners only a “small bit” of attention. So expect much to be made of his mysterious and unspecified vacation from training camp.
Sportsbooks believe Tom Brady will still be ready for Week 1.
Tampa Bay is still a -1.5 to 2 point favorite on most sites. https://t.co/pFONHUtjZx
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) August 11, 2022
For what it’s worth, Vegas doesn’t seem overly worried about TB12’s prognosis, either. Most sportsbooks still have Tampa Bay a favorite over the Cowboys.
The two teams will kick off the 2022 season’s slate of Sunday night games on Sept. 11.
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