So much attention is being made about quarterback Tom Brady and his ability to play football at 43 years old, but another member of the Buccaneers offensive side of that ball is breaking barriers in terms of age, too.

Assistant coach Tom Moore, who turned 82 last November, like Brady, doesn’t have any plans to stop doing what he loves anytime soon.

“Do I want to come back next year?” Moore said. “I want to coach until physically or mentally I can’t or until I die. There is absolutely nothing about not working that turns me on.

“So I want to coach as long as I can, as long as someone will hire me and as long as I can do the job I am supposed to do. So to answer your question, yes I have been vaccinated, and I want to come back next year and the next year and the next year.”

Bucs consultant Tom Moore – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Moore joined Arians’ staff with the Buccaneers in 2019 as an offensive consultant after coaching with Arians in Arizona from 2013-2017. But that was far from Moore’s first NFL stop. The former Iowa Hawkeye quarterback has been coaching since 1961, first in the collegiate ranks, then with nine different in the NFL beginning with the Steelers in 1977 serving as their offensive coordinator.

Moore thinks the possibility of winning his fourth Super Bowl ring standing next to coaches like Arians who he considers a great friend, would be particularly memorable considering the circumstances and obstacles of 2020.

“It’s very special, they are great people and they are fun to work for and with and we all get along,” Moore said. “Everybody knows their roles, everybody has a role to play.

“I got started in 1977 so I’ve been into a lot of seasons and everyone of their own  personality, and this one has taken on a completely different personality than the others. But it is something that everyone had to go through. We had to go through it, the other 31 teams had to go through it. And again, I keep going back to Bruce and I feel very fortunate to have an opportunity work for Bruce. He has done a masterful job in my opinion of handling the whole thing. The players have done a great and are to be commended for their cooperation to stick to the process to keep this thing down so we didn’t have a lot (COVID) episodes.”

And while the media – nationally and locally – fawn over Brady’s impressive high level of play at age 43, Moore has to laugh to himself when people call Brady old. Moore’s 60 years off coaching experience trumps that of Brady, or even his boss Arians, but those 60 years of time on the sidelines are invaluable to the Bucs players and his fellow coaches.

“Tom is great, I get into work at 4:15 or 4:30 and I’m probably two hours behind Tom,” defensive coordinator Todd Bowles said on Monday. “Tom has taught so much football knowledge and does so much film study – offensively and defensively. He will pull me aside and talk red zone and things he sees. It helps me a great deal, but bigger than that he might be the biggest prankster and jokester on the staff. He’s hilarious and he’s great to be around, he’s always here and always giving knowledge. And he puts a lot of things in perspective for us.”