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Byron Leftwich turned 41 last month. He hasn’t played in the NFL since 2012.
Leftwich has spent the past two seasons as an offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers.
His 2020 quarterback, Tom Brady, turned 44 in August, set a team record with 40 touchdown passes, just won his seventh Super Bowl and plans to return in 2021 for a 22nd season.
Count Leftwich is among those who are amazed.
“No way. You just didn’t think it was possible, right?” Leftwich replied when asked on NFL Media’s Jim Trotter and Steve Wyche’s Huddle & Flow Podcast if he thought it was possible for Brady to succeed as he did. “Like, you watched his tape and I knew his arm was still alive, you know, you could tell me that he still had an arm alive. So you knew that his arm was alive. But then you get around it and you’re like, look at that ball. It’s the kind of ball he throws, it’s a friendly ball. It is a penetrating ball. So it was unique to see him being able to do all those things, yet. Hell, I just turned 41 and tried. . . and see him, I’m like, man, just to see how he can still do things that young people could do. “
Brady will undergo surgery on his left knee, which did not seem to bother him in starting all 20 games this season.
“He started this process 20 years ago, you know, 18, 17 years ago, and it’s proof of hard work, of having an understanding, of having a final goal in mind,” said Leftwich. “And you see all the sacrifices he had to make along the way to be able to play that long. So, I mean, it’s amazing to see you do that, but it’s amazing to see the commitment that is needed to ensure that you are able to play that long. “