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When the Patriots returned to win Super Bowl LI against the Falcons, head coach Bill Belichick said one of the best parts of this team of 2016 was that they didn’t take days off.
He even started to sing it.
Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t seem to live up to that mantra.
In an interview with Sam Farmer from Los Angeles TimesArians explained how he prioritized rest and recovery for former Patriots Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
“You have to be very involved as a coach, but with [Brady] it’s not about Xs and Os, ”Arians said. “It’s making sure he’s comfortable and feeling good about the game plan and the work week. He would text me and say, “Do you mind if I don’t cast Wednesday?” I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t care.’ … I asked him: “Do you want to take mental representatives or do you just want to sit down?” He said, “I just need to sit down.” And we’ve done it two or three times during the season.
The Arians noted that Brady went from saying, “This will be the last day I take off,” to asking, “Do you mind if I take off on Wednesday?”
The Arians took the same kind of approach to Gronkowski.
“Even with Gronk, I would say, ‘Dude, you don’t work out on Wednesdays. I need you on Sunday. I don’t need you on Thursday, ”Arians said. “And he was like, ‘Oh, man, I’ll be fresh. I’ll be like, great. I told him if he needed a day off he should let me know. Because he had never had days off before.
After retiring after the Patriots’ Super Bowl LIII victory, Gronkowski’s body was likely well rested and healthy for the season. Gronkowski hadn’t played all 16 regular-season games since 2011 and was able to start each of the Bucs’ 20 games en route to a Super Bowl victory.
There is more than one way to win a championship in the NFL. Belichick and Ariens found formulas that worked for their individual teams.
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