-In addition to preparing for the Indianapolis Colts this weekend, many Buccaneers players have been busy giving back to their community over the past couple weeks in celebration of the holiday season.
Punter Bradley Pinion kicked things off on November 16 with his Convoy of Hope donation drive.
Utilizing a $15,000 Social Justice Fund match, Bradley and his wife, Kaeleigh, hosted a donation drive with Convoy of Hope, a faith-based organization that mobilizes resources and responds to disasters in the U.S. and beyond. The Pinions provided groceries, clothing and hygiene products to over 2,500 people.
Outside linebacker Shaq Barrett, along with his Fifty50 Foundation, hosted a Thanksgiving meal drive-thru for families facing food insecurity at the Boys and Girls Club of Tampa Bay, also on November 16.
Though he couldn't be there in person, inside linebacker Devin White hosted a Turkey Drive back in his hometown in Louisiana on November 20.
The next day, fellow inside linebacker Lavonte David, along with his Lavonte's Legends Foundation, gave away 200 Thanksgiving meals to families in the Miami area. The drive was hosted at Miami Northwestern Senior High School, where David graduated from.
On November 22, wide receiver Mike Evans and the Mike Evans Family Foundation provided 23 Thanksgiving meals and $100 gift cards to Thomas Promise Foundation in Zephyrhills, Florida.
Fellow wide receiver Antonio Brown provided a financial donation to Metropolitan Ministries that was matched by the Buccaneers Social Justice Fund totaling $20,000, while also surprising teens with jerseys, hats and footballs in their weeklong Thanksgiving camp.
The week of Thanksgiving, defensive tackle Will Gholston donated 920 meals that were distributed through Feeding Tampa Bay. For more on that story, click here.
-Tom Brady spoke to media on Thursday following practice and though he was at the facility for half the day, it doesn't absolve him from having to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner.
"I make my grandma's biscuits," Brady said. "Those are always good. The same way she made them when we were kids so the kids ask for it. That's my contribution to the house. Other than that, I don't do much."
-The Buccaneers put together a textbook team win on Monday Night Football against the Giants in their first home game in about a month. But now, they'll go back on the road – a place where they haven't been nearly as successful. So what's the key to getting a win in Indy?
"Just playing faster, coming together, getting off the bus and understanding what we have to do when the ball is kicked off and not try to start fighting too late," said Defensive Coordinator Todd Bowles. "The fight is there, we don't play smart all the time in the beginning of the game so we just have to start faster."
"We just have to play well early," Brady echoed. "We have to try to keep the crowd out of it, so I think getting the lead is always important certainly on the road. They're a team that runs the ball really well. They like to control the pace of the game, but we have to do a good job of that by playing good offensive football."
That doesn't just go for the Colts game, either. This is exactly the time of the season where the Bucs are hoping to have turned a corner and can continue to build off the Monday night win.
"We're at that time of year where you're trying to play your best football," said Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich. "We're just trying to be as good as we can be to try to help us win football games. That's really where we are. It doesn't really matter the venue anymore. It's that time of year where around Thanksgiving, December, where you want to be playing your best."
"This is when a lot of the work you've done really starts to pay off," said Brady. "It's where you notice, hey, these are all the things that we've done over the course of year the right way. A lot of it is, you got to build an inventory of things that you're doing right consistently and they may not show up through four weeks or eight weeks but over the course of 16 games it all plays itself out. It's a time of year where you got to really start playing your best football and a lot of teams lose hope at this time of year. A lot of teams work less hard. This isn't the time of year, in my view, to do less of anything. You got to do more. You got to put yourself in a position to succeed and you got to put yourself in a position to play well every week."
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