Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio on Tom Brady: "He is 45... he isn't able to muster the mental will that he used to be able to harness"; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a third straight and fifth in six with a 27-22 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night
Friday 28 October 2022 07:45, UK
Tom Brady is the undisputed GOAT of the NFL, his seven Super Bowl wins more than any team has ever achieved, let alone another player - but he and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are struggling badly in 2022, winning just three of their first eight games this season. Why?
The most obvious answer is that their superstar quarterback is now 45 years old, and perhaps his retirement U-turn in the offseason was ill-advised. But that's far too simplistic a view, given that Brady lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft with this same team only 18 months ago and was the NFL's leader in passing yards and touchdowns last season - and his arm strength still holds up against his QB peers.
That said, with Tampa Bay's 27-22 defeat to the the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night - their third-straight loss and fifth in six - leaves them 3-5 on the season and in real danger of dropping out of playoff contention. So where, in fact, is at it all going wrong for the Bucs?
We have heard of Super Bowl hangovers lasting into the following season, but to drift into year two is pretty unprecedented.
Perhaps it's linked to Brady's age: the old two-day hangover is far more prevalent for someone of his advanced years, and maybe this Bucs team are mirroring that.
Todd Bowles, in his first year as head coach of the Bucs after taking over from Bruce Arians, said after the Week Six loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that any players still living off the Super Bowl success from two seasons ago were "living in a fantasy land."
"We've been working hard, but we've got to work harder," he added. "The time for talking is over. You've either got to put up or shut up."
But as much as he has been critical of his players, Bowles himself could soon find himself on the hot seat, given the team's struggles in his first year in charge - and with a failed four-season stint leading the New York Jets (2015-2018) on his resume.
Brady initially called time on his storied NFL career on February 1… only to reverse his decision a mere 40 days later and rejoin the team.
"I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore," Brady said in his initial retirement release. And though he subsequently decided to come back to the sport, many have speculated whether that 'competitive commitment' has actually returned with him.
Brady took an 11-day absence from the team's pre-season training camp, he has also been granted Wednesdays off this season as a 'rest day' and was allowed to attend New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's wedding in New York on one Friday, missing the team's walk-through practice on the Saturday prior to their loss to the Steelers.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio said: "He is not making the full commitment anymore. And he doesn't seem to be as engaged.
"If this was Brady 'all in', then he wouldn't have left [training camp]. I'm not giving him a pass for this. And they [the Bucs] act like it's not a factor - of course it's a factor.
"He is 45. He doesn't care as much as he used to. He chose to sign on for one more season when he isn't able to muster the mental will that he used to be able to harness."
Former NFL quarterback Chris Simms added on Pro Football Talk: "I think most of football thinks Tom Brady regrets that he is playing football right now."
A big contributing factor to that widely-held belief is his lack of faith in the offensive line protecting him. Brady has never been the most elusive QB and the blueprint to beating him has long been for the defense to bring interior pressure.
The Bucs did brilliantly in avoiding such scenarios in his first two seasons in Tampa - Brady sacked a combined 43 times, placing him among the least pressured QBs in the league - with an O-line anchored by center Ryan Jensen and guards Ali Marpet and Alex Cappa protecting their prized asset.
But, just weeks after Brady's retirement, Marpet too announced he was stepping away from the game aged just 28, Jensen then suffered a season-ending knee injury two days into training camp and Cappa signed a massive free agency deal to join the Cincinnati Bengals.
Despite the disruption, Brady has actually only been sacked 13 times through eight games this season, but he is looking notably more nervous in the pocket, panicked by the mere potential of pressure.
Brady's distrust of the unit was certainly evident when seen raging at the O-line on the sidelines during their loss to the Steelers.
Brady's ire might not have been provoked just due to pass protection failures, however, with the Buccaneers offensive line also, and more egregiously, failing to open up holes in the run game.
Leonard Fournette had a 100-yard game in the season-opening win over the Dallas Cowboys, but has topped 50 yards only three times since, averaging a paltry 3.5 yards per carry. Also, the team as a whole have now had as many as four games this year in which they have rushed for fewer than 50 as a collective. It leaves them comfortably last in the league in rushing yards per game.
Myles Simmons said on Pro Football Talk: "There's obviously the protection issue with the interior of that offensive line, but it's more noticeable when it comes to running the ball.
"And if you don't have that threat of the run game, it makes everything that much harder. For as good as Brady still is, it makes it easier to start seeing those dents in the armour.
"Nothing is really running smoothly and I think it stems from the fact they don't even have the threat of a run game - and that affects everything else."
When Brady reneged on his retirement from the game, many anticipated it would tempt his long-time team-mate and favourite redzone target Rob Gronkowski into also sticking around for another run at a Super Bowl.
Gronk and Brady had already teamed up to win four of them, with the latest of those coming after the tight end himself came out of retirement to link up with his QB again after his move to Tampa in 2020.
But, on this occasion, Brady could not tempt Gronk into one last go-round, as he announced his retirement for a second time on June 21. And the Buccaneers have badly felt his absence.
A plethora of injuries and suspensions to Brady's receiving corps has not helped either, with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russell Gage and Julio Jones all missing game time at points this season. It's no wonder then that Brady has managed only nine touchdown passes through eight games, following on from his incredible 43 thrown a year ago.
It has led to speculation the Bucs might be making a play to entice Gronk back and bolster Brady's limited options, but time is running out for the team to make a move and for it to have the desired impact.
It's a crucial couple of weeks in Tampa Bay's season coming up, and potentially even Brady's NFL career.
The Bucs are still very much alive in the NFC South race thanks largely to the struggles also of their divisional rivals - they were actually tied for first place with the Atlanta Falcons (3-4) before their latest defeat to the Ravens. Further tricky games await against the defending Super Bowl-champion Los Angeles Rams (3-3) in Week Nine, before a trip to Germany to take on the upstart Seattle Seahawks (4-3).
"Things are not completely over," Simmons said on PFT. "The vibe just doesn't feel right but they still should be the favourites to win that division.
"They still have Tom Brady, they still have all of that experience, the still have good coaches, good players. There are definitely ways the Bucs can right the ship."
But for how long will they have Brady? Though the 45-year-old has committed for the year, were the losses to continue to mount up, would he be happy to stick around and play out the final throes of his NFL career on a faltering team in pointless, dead rubber contests - not exactly the exit deserving of his legacy.
"It's hard to watch," Sky Sports' Neil Reynolds wrote in his weekly column. "Brady could have walked away after winning the Super Bowl at the end of the 2020 season, or at the end of last year, finishing as the NFL's leader in passing yards and touchdowns.
"I have been doing a lot of work preparing for the Bucs-Seattle Seahawks game in Germany - I'll be there for Sky Sports - and I'm curious to see whether Brady will in fact be there."
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