Bruce Arians doesn't hold back criticizing Tom Brady after rough season opener with Bucs
Tom Brady’s debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t go well on Sunday.
Brady had a pair of interceptions, one of which was run back for a touchdown, and was sacked three times in their 34-23 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Though he is arguably one of the best quarterbacks to have ever played the game, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians didn’t hold back when criticizing Brady on Monday.
“He’s had it before. I mean, he knows how to bounce back,” Arians said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “He knew he didn’t play very well. It’s not what he expects from himself nor do we expect.
“I would expect him to have a little more grit, a little more determination this week.”
‘He looked like Tom Brady in practice’
Brady finished the day having gone 23 of 36 for 239 yards through the air, had two passing touchdowns and ran another score in himself. It was the mistakes and turnovers, however, that did the Bucs in.
In Brady’s defense, it was his first outing with a new franchise since he was first drafted by the New England Patriots in 2000. The 43-year-old didn’t get a single preseason game, either, as they were all canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, though, Arians said that Brady and the rest of the offense were perfectly ready for the Saints — which made seeing Brady struggle that much stranger.
“He looked like Tom Brady in practice all the time so it’s kind of unusual to see that in a ball game because they didn’t do things that we didn’t get ready for,” Arians said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “Everything they did, we thought we were ready for.
“Some wide receivers have to do a better job of winning one-on-one when he decides to go their way. He put us in the right run checks a couple times. It was a learning experience that way.”
Now, Sunday’s loss isn’t the end of the world for the Bucs. Far from it. Brady still has plenty of offensive weapons at his disposal, and he’s more than proven himself capable.
Still, Arians is making sure that Brady knows his opening performance didn’t live up to standards — not that he hadn’t come to that realization himself.
“We’re just going to have to get back to work,” Brady said after the loss on Sunday. “Today wasn’t good enough. I just have to think about what I need to do [because] what I did do wasn’t good enough.”
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