IS HONEYMOON ALREADY OVER FOR BRADY IN TAMPA?
Rumblings of a rift between quarterback, head coach starting to emerge from Florida
When the NFL schedule was released in early May, Week 12 offered a tantalizing possible Super Bowl preview featuring the quarterbacks who have won the last two.
Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady could very well still meet up in Tampa on Feb. 7, the scheduled date for this season's championship game. But while Mahomes has led the Chiefs to a 9-1 first place record in the AFC West — and is the No. 1 rated QB and the favourite to win his second league MVP award in three years — Brady and the Buccaneers are sagging.
The GOAT has thrown five interceptions as Tampa has lost two of its last three, dropping to 7-4 and with only a slim chance of catching New Orleans in the NFC South. And the fall has been slippery. On U.S. Thanksgiving Day, a headline in the New York Post focused on the speculation of a growing rift with his coach: “Whispers of Tom Brady-Bruce Arians `tension' are growing.”
Under it, the lead of the story pointed out that Arians' chastising Brady has become a pastime in Tampa Bay this season.
An exaggeration, of course, but Arians has pointed a finger at his six-time Super Bowl winning leader, most recently after last Monday's 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“There's a lot of theories, obviously it was supposed to work better than this, but one of them is that there is real tension,” NFL Insider Dan Graziano said Wednesday on ESPN's Get Up, adding that it's based on preconceived notions the coach had of the quarterback before they were united in March.
“It's almost like Arians was watching some sort of movie star action-hero, and then met him in person and said, `I thought you'd be bigger.' ”
Brady, who has never been good at hiding frustrations, has been getting bashed for his unsportsmanlike actions following a couple of losses. While he did congratulate fellow future Hall of Famer Drew Brees after being beaten by the Saints twice, he snubbed quarterbacks Nick Foles and Jared Goff after losses to the Chicago Bears and Rams.
When both went looking to shake his hand after the game, Brady was already well on his way to the locker-room.
Win or lose, the cameras will find Brady after Sunday's game. It's hard to imagine he'll avoid Mahomes, whom he beat in the AFC Championship Game two years ago.
Earlier this week, Mahomes hearkened back to what Brady said to him following that 37-31 overtime loss, bringing to an abrupt end the former's first season as a starter.
“He just grabbed me after the game … I was kind of leaving the stadium and they had obviously been celebrating going to the Super Bowl,” said Mahomes.
“He just talked about how he respected how I did everything the right way and stuff like that. It's just cool to have a guy of that stature, who has won championships it seems like year in and year out, that has respect for your game as much as you have respect for his. It was definitely a cool experience, that I was able to know that I was doing things the right way early in my career.”
While he's become the face of the NFL, Mahomes doesn't consider himself at Brady's level yet.
“He's someone that's a global star,” said Mahomes. “I just try to be a normal guy and live it up with my teammates, and have fun doing it.”
Brady does have a 2-1 lead on Mahomes in their career headto-heads, with all three games being decided by seven points or less.
If he can pull off an upset against the Chiefs on Sunday, it could get the Bucs straightened out.
Who knows, their Week 12 could still serve as a Super Bowl preview featuring the quarterbacks who have won the last two. COVID-19 UPDATES: Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald has tested positive and will not play in Sunday's game versus New England … The Baltimore Ravens, who had positive tests for four consecutive days, will not name which of their two strength and conditioning coaches they are disciplining after being deemed responsible for their outbreak. That doesn't sit well with Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joe Haden, who tweeted: “They always got our names blasted across the TV screen when we break the rules. Put a face on it.” He does make a good point … The Cleveland Browns closed their facility after having had a player test positive for three days in row — on Thursday it was DE Porter Gustin. They now have three defensive ends out: Gustin, Joe Jackson and Myles Garrett … The Falcons also worked remotely after two non-coaching staff members tested positive.