Tampa, Florida | Every experiment sets out to prove a hypothesis, and Tom Brady formulated an outrageous one last March, when he chose to flee the empire he helped build in New England to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Going from a franchise with whom he had won six titles to one that had won a total of six play-off games, Brady believed that, at 43, he could master a new offence, acclimatise to a new team and conquer a new conference, all while the coronavirus pandemic limited in-person activity.