“We’re Not Stupid”
October 15th, 2020
Miffed at Bucs coach and QB.
The one and only Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is irked at Bucco Bruce Arians and park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting Bucs quarterback Tom Brady.
The famous SiriusXM host heard on “Mad Dog Radio” has been rubbed the wrong way by Brady for years. And when Brady didn’t confess last week that he believed it was third down when he threw an incompletion on fourth down to end the loss to the Bears, Russo got angry and has been awake at night since.
So when Peter King of NBC Sports made his weekly appearance on Russo’s show, Russo wanted to get to the bottom of Brady’s Fourth Down Folly.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo: Why did Brady and Bruce Arians — you know, we’re not stupid — you know, Brady did not know the down. It’s not a big deal. He’s allowed. He’s Captain America. He’s won six titles. He’s allowed to make a mistake. Nobody is going to kill him for it. And Arians goes on the postgame [press conference] and screams and yells, “Ah, he knew the down, that’s nonsense.” No he didn’t! He did not know the down in the Bears game on Thursday. And what Brady should have said, to be fair, “Hey guys, I screwed up. I will take the blame. I thought it was third down. … That was a bad error on my part.” And not to answer the question — this is why I don’t take him seriously about Deflategate. Not to answer the question and come clean with the media and admit he made an error. And to have the coach basically scream at the media for even suggesting it, the whole world including Troy Aikman saw it. It really bothers me.
Peter King: I agree. I agree. I think he should have admitted it. Now there was a one percent, two percent chance that he did know and he was doing something else but I don’t buy it. I agree. I think that he should have just said after the game, “Hey, I made a mistake.”
Well, first, Arians never hollered or screamed. While Arians may have looked the most frustrated after the loss that Joe has ever seen him, Arians didn’t raise his voice at all.
The main issue Joe has with all this stuff is not that Brady didn’t man up and say, “That’s on me bro,” though he should have. Joe wonders about the far-reaching effects.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if a player is from the cornfields of Nebraska, the mountains of Wyoming, the streets of Brooklyn, the swamps of Louisiana, wherever. They want to win. They don’t go out there and get their heads bashed it to lose.
So after Brady read the riot act to his teammates for poor blocking and/or headcase mental mistakes on penalties last Thursday, with the game on the line and the Bucs needing Mr. Six Rings the most, he pulls a Chris Webber.
How do you think that played in the locker room? Brady shows up his teammates (not that they didn’t deserve it) on national TV and then goes out and makes the dumbest mistake of them all to tie a bow on a(nother) Bucs loss.
Joe can never recall Roger Staubach, Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw, to name just a few, not knowing what down they were throwing on.
Joe is confident Brady’s teammates, at least once, thought, “You call me out in front of my brothers and then you go out and lose the game? What the f’ man?”
Joe fears this Bucs team is at a dangerous crossroads for the season as they host the Packers Sunday.
You go look at the next seven games. Joe sees only one gimme on the schedule and we all know how playing that same team last year at the Den of Depression turned out.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:21 am
Like I said at right after the game in Chi-town. We had the “Butt Fumble” and now we have “The Brady Brain Fart” lol We will see how all this plays out. GO BUCS!!!!
October 15th, 2020 at 12:32 am
Kudos to Arian for covering for his QB.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:49 am
Maybe he’s learning some new habits about avoiding responsibility from his
fantastic new coach
October 15th, 2020 at 1:30 am
Not admitting that he did not know what down it was after playing for twenty years, reveals a much deeper problem. Bill Belichick more likely than not hid from the press.
October 15th, 2020 at 1:52 am
Some lie because it leads down the path of less resistance:
“Yes honey, your dress (which I hate) looks great on you… You’re a knockout!”
Some lie because they’re too young or stupid to weigh the different consequences between opting for a falsehood over truth:
“For the last time, Tommy, did you eat the last chocolate chip cookie? I already know the answer and if you tell the truth you won’t be without TV for a month. However, if you lie, no TV and ice cream for a whole month. So, was it you?”
“Uh, no …”
“Then how did that chocolate chip residue find itself dangling from your chin?”
And some lie because it’s ingrained in their persona, even when the truth makes for a better outcome. These people have told so many lies that the truth no longer has a moral meaning, leaving the truth-lie juxtaposition murky at best. Many in this category find more pleasure in getting away with a lie than fessing up to the truth.
The only reason I wrote those elementary breakdowns is because I agree with Russo. Why lie—especially in this case where both coach and QB come off looking like fools?
October 15th, 2020 at 6:32 am
Shakespeare was spot on when he wrote ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Both Russo & King could’ve won starring roles in Willy’s play.
Who really gives a rats about this? We lost the game … but you don’t lose on a single play. And besides, SOMEBODY called the play, regardless of what down it was. The play was executed, and it didn’t succeed. We had 4 downs to make a 1st down and, oh ya, we didn’t make it. Sucks sometimes to be us.
What this really gets down to a couple of national pundits doing their best to fill airtime. Waste of my time even reading this it turns out; nothing informative here. And Joe, shame on you for that “park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting Bucs quarterback Tom Brady” entry into this whatever-it-is. That’s not even ‘cute’ IMO; it becomes disrespectful when monikers like that are based on innuendo as opposed to unsubstantiated fact.
October 15th, 2020 at 6:49 am
It had nothing to do with what’s down it was. He was telling Giselle to get a reservation for four!
October 15th, 2020 at 6:49 am
@defense,
I agree would not put it totally on Brady not know because obviously others did not either.
October 15th, 2020 at 6:55 am
The press is nuts. When ariens blames the QB like he did in weeks one ” he should have never done that to Tom Brady that is going to cause friction.” Now he covers for the guys and we hear ” coach is screamingg at the reporter telling them it is ridiculous to even think such a thing”. ” I say stop with the BS reporting and move on.”
October 15th, 2020 at 6:59 am
Doug Williams threw the ball out of bounds on 4th down to stop the clock. They were driving for the winning score with less than 30 seconds left in the game. I only recall one other similar incident, but I don’t remember the QB or even the team. I believe Jameis would have scored more than one TD against the Bears, and I seriously doubt he would have forgotten what down it was. Also, I know Jameis would have accepted full responsibility if he did.
October 15th, 2020 at 7:06 am
🥱 Yawn.
October 15th, 2020 at 7:08 am
When you have the fame….you take the blame…..whether you admit it or not.
October 15th, 2020 at 7:19 am
@1sparkybuc … “Also, I know Jameis would have accepted full responsibility if he did.”
How soon we forget Ubergate. (Sorry Sparky, that was too easy).
October 15th, 2020 at 7:19 am
So you mean he lied to his teammates and it cost them a game shouldn’t that cause distrust and no more belief in them like I’ve heard so many times about someone else?
October 15th, 2020 at 7:23 am
DR—
Seems we read two different articles. From your end, I agree. Who cares about loud mouthed pundits like Russo?
But for me, the article was about honesty and more acutely, accountability. Why did Brady lie (most likely) when he could have put the team on his back and uttered something akin to an admission of guilt?
Call me old school or possible melodramatic old fool, but that simple admission would have let the team know that he was a stand-up guy who is not immune from making the same stupid mistakes they do …
October 15th, 2020 at 7:33 am
I don’t think they really cAre. They put up with jameis turnovers and we are far from a crossroads. Jameis was found guilty of assaulting a woman and lied to this teammates. THAT IS MUCH WORSE, in so many ways off the field and on the field. Was I embarrassed after that loss? Yes. Was I more embarrassed than the jameis accusation? Yea
October 15th, 2020 at 7:37 am
I can’t believe this is still going on. I could not care less. If the team completely changes their mind about Brady off of one dumb little thing then we’ve got bigger problems. Big whoop. Even goats are fallible.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:01 am
I now that you miss me! Funny but the below is not from me: Hmmmm
What this really gets down to a couple of national pundits doing their best to fill airtime. Waste of my time even reading this it turns out; nothing informative here. And Joe, shame on you for that “park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting Bucs quarterback Tom Brady” entry into this whatever-it-is. That’s not even ‘cute’ IMO; it becomes disrespectful when monikers like that are based on innuendo as opposed to unsubstantiated fact.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:02 am
Not ME!
What this really gets down to a couple of national pundits doing their best to fill airtime. Waste of my time even reading this it turns out; nothing informative here. And Joe, shame on you for that “park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting Bucs quarterback Tom Brady” entry into this whatever-it-is. That’s not even ‘cute’ IMO; it becomes disrespectful when monikers like that are based on innuendo as opposed to unsubstantiated fact.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:08 am
Who cares? But why ignore the obvious–Brady has had dozens of concussions that he doesn’t talk about, although his wife once let it slip.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:17 am
I only have one thing to say. Brady has a C on his chest. There is a certain degree of accountability that goes with that. A simple ,Sorry guys, my bad
isn’t that hard, especially when you demand accountability from your teammates.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:20 am
JA … Who called the 4th down play? BA, BL or Brady? Was Brady just executing a coach’s playcall, or did he call it at the line? Point is … we don’t know. Neither do Russo or King. So why make accusations on things where you have no actual proof? Seems to me like we get enough of that in today’s political world.
Oh and Paul, you can deny it twice if you want, but Joe’s gonna blame you anyways. Just for kicks.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:28 am
No game is a gimmie in the nfl. Stop looking ahead at the schedule and let’s just focus on the packers this week. Their on fire and we need to put them out. Let’s go Bucs
October 15th, 2020 at 8:28 am
I think Bryan Leftwich told him it was 3rd down
October 15th, 2020 at 8:32 am
Won’t happen again. Let’s move on to the Pack, Joe.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:33 am
DR, exactly right. I said this the day after the game. Isn’t BL calling the plays? Why would he call a 50/50 shot like that instead of taking the obvious dump pass to keep the drive alive. I think they’re trying to protect BL not Brady.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:52 am
Wonder who that someone else is, NDogTurd? No way it’s #3, right, because we don’t post crybaby dribble about #3 every single day do we?
October 15th, 2020 at 9:04 am
Guys that are complaining about the play call and blaming BL, vaughn was wide open in the flat for 5 yards with no one around him. BL does not throw the ball. Thats up to the qb. You guys blamed the last qb for not dumping the ball off to the flat and now you blame the OC for calling a play that had a back in the flat? You can’t make this stuff up.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:05 am
DR—
Your right, I have no full-proof evidence. But the four fingers clearly puts the murder weapon in the vicinity of Brady’s hand. Perry Mason would consider that a confession and probably get Brady to weep while fessing up.
Back to your boy Willie: “Much ado about nothing.”
Forget it.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:06 am
You’re.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:39 am
Chris. The lies continue. Jameis Winston was NEVER found guilty of anything. He was never charged nor even arrested. He was ACCUSED and there were no witnesses to either confirm or deny the accusation. No trial. He denied the incident actually happened. The league acted on an assumption, and just to clarify things for those here with a bias, Jameis always took responsibility for game losses, too often when others should have. Jameis was an interception machine no question, but he never passed blame to his teammates.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:43 am
actual question about calling a play.
i’m sure there is a structure/protocol about giving the play to the quarterback over the headset.
does it not include down/distance/name of play ?
October 15th, 2020 at 10:38 am
Joe your right the Packers are a crossroad game. Then we go on the road to Vegas where our ole’ buddy Gruden will have an extra week to prepare for us. Time for BA to change the culture here.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:52 am
Byron leftwich or BA take a lot of blame for that loss. Rojo was cooking. The screens were getting 6 yards per. And we bring in Tanner Hudson in on a clear running drive to milk the clock and they lined up over him and leftwich runs to where – Hudsen.
We get away from what’s working and start going no risk it no biscuit. I’m starting to wonder if this offensive philosophy is worth it and I’m guessing Brady is going to lay into the play calling soon.
October 15th, 2020 at 7:08 pm
Brutal Brady won’t own up to anything as he hides behind his cheating coach Bellicheat and deflating footballs. If there is anyway he can cheat here, he should try it. Terrible Tom would a hero if he could teach this coaching staff how to cheat and not get caught or only get a slap on the wrist.
October 15th, 2020 at 8:07 pm
The only reason it is still an “Issue” is because selfabsorbed media types want it to be. And you are helping them under the guise of disagreement with one of them. We are not stupid either! 😉