Tom Brady beat his Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich in the playoffs earlier in his career
Fifteen years later and Leftwich is running Brady's offense
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Tom Brady joined forces with Byron Leftwich when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the start of the 2020 season.
Brady, at 43 years old, was going to be coached by an offensive coordinator who was younger than him. Leftwich is 41, but the two quarterbacks said things started to click between them from the start.
As the two head to Super Bowl LV, Brady’s matchup against Leftwich in the playoffs is being remembered.
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Leftwich’s Jacksonville Jaguars faced off against Brady’s New England Patriots in the 2005 playoffs. The wild-card matchup was Leftwich’s lone playoff start of his career. Needless to say, the Jaguars did not have a very good time against the Patriots squad.
Brady went 15-for-27 with 201 passing yards and three touchdown passes in the 28-3 win. Leftwich was 18-for-31 with 179 passing yards and an interception. David Garrard also played in the game. He was 3-for-8 with 68 passing yards.
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Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots (R) shakes hands with Byron Leftwich #7 of the Jacksonville Jaguars after defeating the Jaguars 28-3 in their Wild Card Playoff game on January 7, 2006 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Brady and the Patriots would lose to Jake Plummer and the Denver Broncos in the divisional round.
TOM BRADY HAS TAKEN MORE THAN 200 TEAMMATES TO THE SUPER BOWL, INCLUDING 3 HALL OF FAMERS
Fifteen years later, Leftwich will be running the high-flying offense with Brady at the helm.
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Before the Buccaneers won the NFC Championship, Leftwich talked about Brady’s leadership.
"It wasn’t just Tom learning the guys, it was the guys learning where Tom is going to put the ball, how he’s going to see a certain play. All that just took a little time," Leftwich said of Brady joining the Bucs.
"The key for us was to just win games during the process. This league is about winning, don’t be fooled. Week in and week out there will be different storylines, but we understand being in this game as long as we’ve been in it … it’s about winning football games."
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Leftwich added that his relationship with Brady has continued to blossom.
"I think what helps is we’re around the same age. We like the same type of things, we see life kind of the same. … We just clicked from the time that we had an opportunity to work with each other," he said.
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"I have a lot of respect for Tom … and I think it’s the other way, too. We just work our butts off every day trying to put our team in the best position to win football games."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.