For some players and teams, a successful season would be making the playoffs, but for others anything short of a Super Bowl win would be seen as a disappointment. One of those players who has high expectations for himself and his team is Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who knows a thing or two about making it to the big game.
Brady already has seven Super Bowl rings in his collection, but that does not mean he is changing his goals for his team, and the players around him feel the same way.
"It's Super Bowl or nothing," Bucs linebacker Devin White said when describing the team's mindset. "We know that. I'll say that in front of all the cameras. That's the only goal. That's what we want. That's what we're after. We know we're not there yet because it's a long season, long way to go. But that's what we're fighting for."
Before Brady pulled into town, the Buccaneers were not much of an NFC threat, but in his first year with the team he led it to its second Super Bowl championship. White was a difference maker on that championship team and was clearly not happy with the way last season went, wanting to repeat the history made in 2020.
Last season, the Buccaneers had the chance to make it all the way, but ended up losing to the eventual champion Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs. White commented on that loss, saying getting over it "took a long time."
"I just knew, I kept telling everybody in the locker room whoever win this game gonna win the Super Bowl because we both had great balance of offense and defense. When we was in the locker room -- man, if they had cameras in there -- they could tell you, I told them we coming back, we gonna come back," he said. "The ball gonna eventually go our way, and it did. I think we capitalized on it, but at the end, it was just one missed opportunity. Obviously, can't dwell on it, but it's fuel to the fire for this year."
The Rams and Buccaneers will meet again this season for a Week 9 matchup, and White has that game circled.
"We never beat them. I definitely know that. We never beat them," he said. "There was a perfect time to beat them when it really, really mattered. But we want to win every game, we want to just show ourselves that we are better.
For 40 days, the team thought they would be facing teams this season without Brady, who retired. But when Brady decided to come back, White's No. 1 goal of again hoisting the Lombardi Trophy became much more attainable.
