Brady’s broken Bucs

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fall to 3-5, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen officially file for divorce, and Tom Brady becomes the most-sacked quarterback in NFL history. The headlines are looking a bit different where Brady and the Bucs are concerned these days, aren’t they?

The Buccaneers lost 27-22 to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday to make their third consecutive loss.

That’s their fifth loss this season, already equalling the most regular season defeats for the franchise since Brady arrived. In 2020, they had 11 wins and 5 losses and in 2021, they had 13 wins and 4 losses. In 2022 so far, just 3 wins to their 5 losses.

“I think we’ve struggled pretty much at everything,” said Tom Brady after the loss to the Ravens. “Struggled in the red area, struggled on third down, struggled on the run game.”

It’s also the first time Brady has had three losses in a row since 2002, two decades ago. The Bucceneers’ last three losses came against the Pittsburgh Steelers (20-18), the Carolina Panthers (21-3), and now the Ravens (27-22). Brady is multiple games under .500 as a starter for the first time in his NFL career.

RELATED: Could this be Tom Brady’s first losing season?

“I don’t think you can erase what has happened the last eight weeks,” said Brady. “We’ve got to dig deep, see what we’re all about, come to work, try to improve, and give ourselves a better chance to win.”

Despite their record, the Bucs are still sitting at 2nd place in the NFC South behind the 4-4 Falcons and just ahead of the 3-5 Saints and the 2-6 Panthers in last.

The Buccaneers have been struggling to score at all this season. Against the Ravens, they finally got an opening drive touchdown, their first of the season, but didn’t get back into the end zone until under a minute was left in the game. The offensive line on this Bucs team is just bad, leaving Brady under pressure in the pocket and forced to make quick decisions. His three sacks against the Ravens added up to give him the title of most-sacked quarterback in the history of the NFL. The run game is also horrific - the Bucs rank last in the NFL with just 61.9 rushing yards per game.

Rather than being able to rely on Brady in the pass game instead, he’s made just nine touchdown passes in eight games and if he keeps up this average, he would have the lowest total TD passes he’s ever had as a starter in a fill season (19).

After retiring for a whopping 40 days, Brady just couldn’t stay away from the game. At 45 years old, he is in the last year of his contract with the Bucs and possibly his last year in the NFL. As we know well by now, he does not take losing very well.

Back in 2014, Brady said, “when I suck, I’ll retire”. Well…I think it might be time then. If the season continues in this way, it could very well be.