Bruce Arians: Tom Brady was playing badly

Bruce Arians is no longer the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2022 NFL season, but he serves as an advisor to general manager Jason Licht.

Prior to the past two victories over the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwitch had been blamed for Tampa Bay’s offensive woes. However, the former Bucs head coach stated in an interview with Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan.com that Tom Brady did not play well during the first part of the season.

Tom Brady’s lackluster start

“It’s not fair to Byron. No one will say Brady was playing poorly, but he was playing poorly. We had trouble with a young offensive line and we didn’t run well. There’s a point where you lose rushing yards and as a coach you’re like, ‘Let’s forget about this, let’s give the ball to Tom,” the former head coach said.

What Arians pointed out is not a lie since TB12 had had the worst start of his career in terms of record, entering Week 8 at 3-5 and only nine touchdown passes with 2,267 yards. Now the 45-year-old QB has 2,805 yards, 12 TDs, two INTs and has completed 66 percent of his throws.

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Optimism

Despite the criticism of Brady, Arians is hopeful for the final part of the regular season and is confident that the team will qualify for the playoffs.

“I am optimistic about the rest of the season. First, we are healing. Tom smiled last week for the first time in training. I love the attitude with which we played on Sunday, especially defensively, that was missing”, said Arians.

At the moment, the Buccaneers lead the NFC South with a 5-5 record. However, the divisional race is close as they only have a one-game lead over the Atlanta Falcons (4-6 ) and two over the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints (3-7).