Hey there! You came back for another dose of Daily Bucs Trivia. Awesome! Thank you. Today's question is not about Tom Brady but I'm going to mention Tom Brady in the set-up because Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady. It's like the end of Being John Malkovich.
Anyway, Tom Brady is a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, which is strange to write but is also already cliché because dozens of other members of the media have already pointed out how strange that is to write. Anyway, barring a disruption of the 2020 season by the COVID-19 pandemic, Brady will make his debut in a Buccaneers uniform (a new Buccaneers uniform!) this coming September.
That will not be the first time that Brady and the Buccaneers have been on the field together, however. During his 20 years as a member of the New England Patriots, Brady played against Tampa Bay on four occasions. I regret to inform you, but am also pleased to inform you, that Brady and his squad won all four of those games.
At some point not long into the 2020 season, Brady will have played more games for the Buccaneers than against the Buccaneers. Which is not particularly unusual or remarkable. Prior to the trade that brought him back to his college hometown in 2018, Jason Pierre-Paul had played against the Bucs three times. He's now played for the Bucs 26 times.
But this does lead me to the topic of today's trivia question. By the way, I'll be posting one of these quizzes every workday in the month of April. The question will go up at 10:00 a.m. ET and then I'll add the answer in that post at 4:00 p.m. ET. I'll also share both on Twitter. There's no prize, just the pride you'll get from knowing your team and its history well. And this isn't multiple choice; you'll have to figure out the answer for yourself.
Now on to the question, which is simple and needs no preamble but might be deceivingly hard to figure out.
Bucs Daily Trivia Question, April 9:
Who is the only person in franchise history that has played FOR the Buccaneers in at least 20 regular-season games and AGAINST the Buccaneers in at least 20 regular-season games?
Come back at 4:00 p.m. ET for the answer!
Answer: As many fans figured out quickly on Twitter, the player in question had to be from one of Tampa Bay's division rivals, because without two games against each other a year it would take a long time to get to 20 games played against the Buccaneers. And eventually fans figured out that this was not an NFC South rival but a team from the old NFC Central. Minnesota, in particular.
Hall-of-Fame guard Randall McDaniel played his first 12 seasons (1988-99) with the Vikings, and during that time he faced the Buccaneers on 23 occasions. It would have been 24 but one of the only two games he missed during his career was one against Tampa Bay in 1989. McDaniel then spent his last two years starting for the Buccaneers, giving him 32 games played in the pewter and red.
McDaniel is the only player with 20 games played both for and against the Buccaneers, but one other popular guess on Twitter was very, very close. Kicker Matt Bryant played four seasons for Tampa Bay (2005-08), appearing in 63 games. He then went to Atlanta for 11 more years, which could have given an opportunity for 22 games against his former team. However, he missed one Bucs-Falcons game each in 2009 and 2015 and both of them in 2019. He did also play one game against Tampa Bay as a New York Giant in 2003, but that still leaves him at 19 overall.
