Does Tom Brady Now Have To Carry The Bucs?
January 3rd, 2022
Pressure builds.
When Tom Brady was with the Belicheats, there were years when the New England offense was a bunch of nobodies outside of foot-rubbing Rob Gronkowski.
Has that happened now in Tampa?
In the wake of furniture-tossing, bicycle-winging, tantrum-throwing quitter Antonio Brown Pearl Harboring his days with the Bucs and likely his NFL career, Clark Judge of SI.com seems to think the Bucs will have to be carried through the playoffs by a 44-year old man.
With the exit of Antonio Brown, Bucs’ quarterback Tom Brady is back in familiar territory: A return to the Super Bowl is all on his shoulders.
Joe doesn’t buy it. Sure, the Bucs’ receiving corps has been hit very hard. Chris Godwin is gone and Brown went mental yesterday. That is a major one-two punch.
But Brady still has Gronk. He still has Mike Evans. He should have Leonard Fournette back and the offensive line is healthy with three Pro Bowlers. And it seems Le’Veon Bell has shown flashes that his tank isn’t fully empty.
Do the Bucs have a tough road ahead? Sure do. But Brady has often won with lesser talent.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:17 am
And the defense should be healthy for the run. If we can hang on we may be getting ready to peak. Last year Godwin was hurt, couldn’t catch with the finger. Maybe we’ll be okay. The 2nd seed and home field would be nice. Can’t wait!!! Go Bucs!!! Still an awesome time to be a fan.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:30 am
The biggest question I have is will the defense get healthy and get back to its old ways of stopping the run and shutting opponents offenses down when needed.
Turnovers and short fields helped set up scores last year and we will need them
to play at a high level to advance in the playoffs.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:35 am
Tom has been carrying the Bucs.
Not our Defense.
Not out Special Teams.
Certainly not our coaching.
And definitely not AB, who played part time in 7 games.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:58 am
Is Grayson for real? Will Tyler Johnson, Perriman, and Brate catch the ball when thrown to? If the answer is yes, the Bucs will do fine.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:15 am
It comes down to As long as we have the GOAT we have a chance…….except against the Saints. Our defense is what it is. Contrary to the popular belief it isn’t all Bowles fault. You see flashes from time to time and they are opportunistic. The reason we won is because it got a stop when we absolutely needed it and then Tom and the offense took advantage. We overcame a 14 point deficit on a day they didn’t play very inspired football, when everything was pointing towards defeat, championship caliber teams do that. I wish this game would teach those weak minded fans to stop crying defeat if the other team scored first or because the team isn’t playing well. Having only4 defeats they 16 games proves this team always has a chance
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:34 am
Lets not act like we have had significant contributions from AB last or this year. He’s been a part-time player this whole time. Now, is he talented, sure.
Fact is, our biggest missing piece is Chris Godwin.
Tom Brady has carried this team since he got here. Just like yesterday’s game, I expect us to be in ANY game so long as he’s behind center.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:41 am
I think how our D plays is more important than Brady. He’s consistent. Need LVD, JPP and our secondary to be healthy. I know JPP will be limited until he has surgery. With a better D, we have a good chance and won’t be totally dependent on Brady outscoring the other team.
Looks like we will probably play the 49ers and they will pound the rock. Need the D — and not the one we saw yesterday.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:53 am
He’s already carrying the team….has a number of times this year
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:57 am
We stopped because their QB ran the wrong play. He was supposed to fake that sneak, do a reverse. If you look at the replay, we had NOone to their left
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:15 am
Brady may be able to carry the Buccaneers passed the New York Jets but it’s not gonna happen like it did yesterday in the playoffs with the caliber of teams that the Bucs will be playing then
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:30 am
Joes
Brady did have less with other teams. But those teams had belicheck and josh mcdaniels scheming great game plans. We dont have that luxury
And joe its obvious brady And evans have worst chemistry on team out of our stars. Evans option 4 behind godwin , AB and gronk. And mike is one of my favorite bucs of all time. But brady should never throw a jump ball his way ever again.
But brady will have to play perfect football cause guys will not be open. Sorry but a fact. We will have to run ball. Evans will get doubled and grayson will be facing a good corner now in playoffs. Johnson and scooter to inconsistent
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:04 am
Joe Joe… yes, Brady has done with less. But not at his age. And you write off Rodgers so easily. If you look, the Packers D is much improved under the leadership of Joe Barry. Rodgers has to play well, and he doesn’t have to play like Brady for them to win. Discount them if you wish… but I think the only decent chance we have of beating them, in the physical condition this team is in, is one word… Brady.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:07 am
Playoffs are a clean slate. Every member of the Bucs defense must play their best football. I thought that when the secondary got healthy they would return to more press coverage. In first half of game vs Jets that soft zone stuff was playing into the Jets hands. Wilson was zipping the ball into spots and the openings were easy first downs.
Announcers were saying how the Bucs were not sealing the edges and many running plays were just really bad tackling. Devon White has to be singled out in in the run defense as well as Minter. They did nothing vs the Jets to help stop the runs.
One more thing, what in the hell is the issue with throwing deep to Gronk and Tyler Johnson on these 3rd and ones or 3rd and twos? All game long they passed up high percentage plays with those deep sideline shots to the 2 slowest receivers on the field. I don’t understand those calls.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:30 am
If Brady can pull this off, it will be one helluva chapter in the Brady legacy.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:47 am
Joe, not sure I would call Edleman, Amendola & James White no bodies. Brady’s last season they LOST because they had a injured Edleman and a bunch of no bodies.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:52 am
Beej … ‘We won because their QB ran the wrong play’. Since we weren’t in the huddle Beej, don’t know that we can say that with any certainty, but 1 thing is for certain: the Jets botched it at the end. They’d been running very well against us all afternoon, and THAT play was the only one that really counted. And they blew it.
I love good defense, but yesterday I saw woefully little of that from our Bucs. I’ve come to the conclusion that our highly-touted run defense is a bunch of smoke-and-mirrors for the most part. Teams built for the run (like the Jets, Saints, Cowboys, 49ers, etc) CAN run on us, and can run very effectively on us.
In our 4 losses, the teams who beat us ran against us slightly over 30 times a game average. In our 12 wins, teams who we beat only ran against us slightly over 18 times a game average. IOW they were convinced they had a better chance of beating us with the pass than with the run. Opponents ran against us LESS than against any other team (#1 ranking), yet we gave up 4.3 YPC average (#16 ranking). Opponents passed against us MORE than any other team (#32 ranking), yet we surrendered less than 4,000 passing yds (#22 ranking).
Where our defense has excelled is in (1) Points Allowed (336 total for a #10 ranking); (2) Turnovers (27 total for a #6 ranking); (3) Total Pressures (195 sacks, knockdowns, hurries for a #1 ranking).
Question is ‘Will those strengths be enough in the playoffs against the best teams in the NFL?’ IMO, you never know; it all depends on how our opponents choose to play it AND how many BIG PLAYS we can come up with at critical times. We did very well in that latter regard in last year’s playoffs. It’ll be interesting to see if our defense can rise to the occasion during this year’s playoffs. Lingering injuries (to guys like JPP, LVD & several in our Secondary) will play a huge role I suspect.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:54 am
All I can say is SO FAR SO GOOD!! Get more healthy + Great game plans + Great player execution = a WIN!!
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:55 am
Bbro your kidding right? Brady has shown this team the way. As long as everyone contributes The Bucs can win it all. After all these years you say something like that? GOBUCS!
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:58 am
Yeah DR . The pass/run stat is always skewed in wins/loss. Most of the wins teams were playing from behind thus more passes .
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:02 am
Now they will be more focused. This is going to be a great run.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:05 am
Too many injuries and key players including Brady past their prime. Bucs are still a threat but no longer dominate. Hats off to this team for still being a threat but just too many injuries this year. They were blessed last year and cursed by injuries this year. The teams with fewest injuries will probably go the furthest in the playoffs. Truth is its a brutal physical game. Super Bowl or not the Bucs have hung in there against a lot of adversity and remain alive despite loosing so many starters on both offense and defense.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:17 am
Forgot when it was, maybe toward end of game! White was dog on a few plays, shying away from tackles…something is up with him?
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:20 am
I know I’m going to get hassled but losing A.B lol s huge dude is a head case yes we all know but you can’t deny is talent on the field. He’s gone so by Felicia. Hopefully M.E.13 gets healthy n bell can get up to speed pretty quick now we need Brate and this is a bit of a jump but we also need O.J. to step up Grayson has done a great job so keep feeding him n perriman showed up nicely to so keep feeding him. I think with all those guys we can still beat down so good teams. Brady had done more with less. If our defense can get back to what is was playing like a few weeks ago when we didn’t let up a TD in like 9 quarters then this team will do great in the playoffs.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:22 am
Wild bill. That’s a great way to look at it. But this ain’t over yet. We still got enough for a run. Let’s go Bucs
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:28 am
This simple, GO 49ers! They win and we get 2 seed with no worries about who we play just that we have a guarantee of a 2nd and possibly 3rd home game! Beat the Kitties and root for the 49ers!!!!
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:34 am
Yes,
Tom Brady has carried offenses with less on them through the playoffs before.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:34 am
Bird is right, there were seasons that the Patriots had WRs who weren’t even household names in their own households. But they did have superior coaching, something that isn’t present in Tampa Bay.
And I also don’t see good chemistry between Evans and Brady, which includes that INT yesterday. That toss wasn’t the product of inaccuracy, it was the result of a QB and WR not being on the same page. Evans is great in the red zone where he can assert his physicality and athleticism, but chemistry really shows when you try to move the chains to get to the red zone. Godwin and Antonio Brown were the chain movers on this team. They’re gone, and there isn’t a chain mover WR on this roster.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:59 am
I love what Brady said about AB.
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:37 am
Defense Rules Says:
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:52 am
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Absolutely agree. Always watch for your comments. The Bucs defenses have been the major factor in their championship wins going all the way back to 1979. This team is the first one to be solid on both sides of the ball. But, there are too many major players hurt.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:02 am
Brady past his prime? Seriously? Dang I do not know which game you watched yesterday.
Going into yesterday…”Past his prime” Brady led EVERY meaningful QB stat from Yards, completions, TD’s
Yeah it was the Jets but Brady played masterfully in the 4th Quarter.
WTF is wrong with us. It was the 16th game of a long difficult season. The team trailing by 2 TD’s and Brady..past his prime…without two of his top three targets..brings us back.
What do you guys want? REALLY!
Meanwhile BA still gets crap even though he won the big one and has an outstanding resume. Will we ever be satisfied?
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:05 am
Kentucky Buc … ‘The pass/run stat is always skewed in wins/loss. Most of the wins teams were playing from behind thus more passes’.
Can agree with some of that Kentucky but not all of it. Bucs’ pass defense has been circumspect all season, and it appears that most teams have felt that they had a better chance of whooping us using short passing especially, with just enough runs mixed in to keep us honest. The teams who we beat for the most part were teams who we SHOULD have beaten because they didn’t have particularly strong offenses (again, ‘for the most part’).
Take Chicago for example. On the season Bears ran it just over 45% of the time. Against us, they ran it 29 times … 45% run-pass ratio. Bears did manage to compile 143 rushing yds that game (4.9 YPC), which is somewhat better than their seasonal average of 4.3 YPC, but still the Bears lost 38-3, even though Justin Fields threw for 69% (22-of-32 for 184 yds). What screwed them? Can probably start with FIVE turnovers (3 INTs & 2 fumbles lost). Odds of winning with a MINUS-4 Turnover Differential is incredibly low.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:07 am
StPete … ‘Brady past his prime? Seriously?’
You’re just saying that StPete because to you & I Tom Brady is still a kid.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:03 pm
We have the immortal Cyril Grayson!
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:40 pm
Yes wild bill. He is washed up. 410 yards and 3 tuddies (1 pick)
And drove them 93 yards for a td with seconds left
Playing with back ups
You and orlbucfan would make a great couple
Lay off the meth
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:18 pm
Tom Brady did more with less talent in a different scheme that schemed players open that is not the bucs scheme. The bucs scheme depends on the talent rather than the scheme if they don’t change it to compensate and even if they do they may just not have the luck this year with all the injuries but anything can happen on the football field so it’s possible.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:25 pm
A huge part of that depends on Leftwich designing plays that are good enough to extract the best from Miller, Grayson and Johnson. Can we honestly say that we’re confident in his ability? Can we honestly say that Arians and Leftwich have ever crafted a playbook that doesn’t resort to throwing deep 30 times per game and running 10 times?
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:27 pm
Brady has won Super bowls with Gronk out of the lineup. Brady thew for 500 yards and 3 TDs after losing Brandon Cooks in the first quarter against the Eagles. Thanks Bill for benching Malcolm Butler while the Pats defence was getting shredded by backup Nick Foles. If Brady has Gronk, Evans and Fournette in playoff shape, and the O line holds, they have a punchers chance to repeat.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:01 am
Brady has won with a lot less, agree with many posters above. He won’t be fazed by AB’s antics. He’s played with worse, a serial murderer, (Hernandez) albeit unknowingly, he can block out off-field events from his mind. He is a brilliant schemer as well as primo athlete. Look, the guy is not like any of us. Or anyone else for that Matter-Obviously, he’s damn near perfect, never underestimate this guy. Do you know how f**cing lucky you are to have him?