The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will practice in Miami this week due to the threat of Hurricane Ian.
Per usual, Tom Brady won't allow the Bucs to use the jostled schedule as a reason to be ill-prepared to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday night.
"Great opponent, well-coached, great quarterback, explosive offense, great D-coordinator, a lot of talented players on defense," Brady said Monday on SiriusXM's "Let's Go!" podcast. "They lost a tough one on the road (to the Colts), so they'll be hungry. They'll kind of have a normal week of prep. And, look, I think when you are dealing with some of the things that we're gonna have to deal with this week, there's built-in excuses that should never be excuses for anything.
"We gotta approach the week with the championship attitude that no matter what we face and no matter who plays, we're gonna have to go out there and find a way to win the game. So it's not gonna be easy. It's a huge test. We're playing at home. It's a night game and it's gonna be a challenge. And that's what we should want and that's what we should expect from one of the best teams in the league that we're gonna face. So we gotta be at our best. Hopefully, we can be that. And to get to 3-1 would be a great feeling after yesterday's tough loss."
The Bucs will use the Dolphins' facilities in Miami due to the latter's Thursday game against the Bengals in Cincinnati, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported Monday.
Currently, Sunday's prime-time game between the Bucs and Chiefs in Tampa remains on track to be played as scheduled. But that could change in the coming days as the league monitors the situation.
Ian surged into a Category 3 hurricane Tuesday morning and is headed into the Gulf of Mexico on a path to make landfall in Florida on late Wednesday or early Thursday, per The Weather Channel. Even if Hurricane Ian loses some intensity as it hits land, dangerous winds and storm surges could cause significant disaster in the Tampa area and other regions around western Florida.
"The plan is, and things are kind of, you know, trying to adjust on the fly and preparations for an NFL game are pretty intense," Brady said of the Bucs moving to Miami for practices. "This is a little different for me. I've never had to deal with anything like this. We had COVID for a couple years and now with this seems like a pretty intense hurricane coming our way. I don't think Tampa's probably, I don't think any place is very well suited for a hurricane to hit, but everyone in this area will be in our thoughts and prayers as we go through it.
"I know our team is going to have to adjust, go to Miami and practice there for the week, and then hopefully we can come back later in the week and play against the Chiefs Sunday night. So a lot of things can happen in a short period of time, and I think it's suited for all of us to stay adaptable to the situation. I don't think that anyone's really prepared for this. I know I've been preparing all morning and get all my stuff outside, try to put it inside, try to get all the stuff on the ground level up a little bit higher. I'm right here on the bay so they're talking about pretty high storm surges and it's a scary thing. I will say that it's a scary thing when it really hits your doorstep."
