TAMPA, Fla. — When you watch a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, you focus on what’s going on on the field.
But it is unbelievable what happens behind the scenes to get the Bucs to an away game. The team behind the team is packing up and moving not only players, coaches and staff but all that gear.
Before quarterback Baker Mayfield led the Bucs to a 34-20 win against the Green Bay Packers, the action behind the scenes was months in the making.
“Back in April, March, the hotel, the airline, coordinating with all of them,” Bucs’ equipment director Brad Berlin said. “We see our schedule ahead of time, but when we see anything north, that’s a lot of extra work.”
For the Green Bay trip, the gear was loaded on the truck on Thursday for a Sunday game.
The crew packed the truck in less than 90 minutes. Each row snugged in tightly with training staff gear closest to the cab.
But when the team plays up north, there is some extra baggage.
“The cold weather adds such a big element to it that once we are in our routine, there is not a lot of free time to go back and pack a whole winter’s game worth of stuff in a week,” Berlin said. “That’s virtually impossible. We start in July and August, prepping all that. Long underwear, stocking hat.”
Berlin usually packs two pairs of cleats for every player. But Lambeau Field is the exception, so he packs a third pair with detachable cleats.
“The field is notoriously bad. The climate, not just snow, but it is always damp up there,” Berlin said. “The field never really dries.”
As for transporting all this stuff 1,400 miles from home, there are three drivers taking turns at the wheel.
“Of course, the unloading process,” Spero Georgedakis, Good Greek Moving and Storage, said. “We have to go to the hotel, we have to go to the stadium, and set all the players’ equipment in the locker room, including the helmets and shoulder pads. It’s a lengthy process.”
A process months in the making, making sure the team on the field can solely focus on winning football games.
“That truck gets packed a certain way,” Berlin said. “There is a reason for that. Number one, there was two inches of room to spare where they closed the door.”
“This is the NFL; there is no margin for error,” Georgedakis added.
