Hailed by the Chiefs
K. C. effusive in its praise for Bucs’ Brady despite his recent poor form
TAMPA, Fla. — The Chiefs aren’t buying all the talk about Tom Brady’s struggles. They insist he’s still playing at a high level and that they’ll have to be at their best to beat the Buccaneers.
The reigning Super Bowl champions ( 9- 1) visit the Bucs ( 7- 4) on Sunday, with Patrick Mahomes facing Brady for the fourth time in his young career and Brady looking to shrug off two subpar performances against playoff contenders.
“You can’t take anything away from Tom Brady,’’ Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. ‘‘ He’s still very smart, he’s still trying to throw the ball downfield and he still has the weapons. We’ll have our hands full.
‘‘ He’s played against our system a number of times, even going back to New England. He’s familiar with us. Now we have to get familiar with him and the weapons he has.”
Brady won two of the previous three matchups against Mahomes, including an overtime thriller in the AFC Championship Game two seasons ago.
The six- time Super Bowl champion played poorly in home losses to the Saints and Rams two of the last three weeks. Still, Chiefs coach Andy Reid cautioned against anyone writing off the 43- year- old future Hall of Famer.
Despite Brady’s recent struggles, particularly on deep passes, the Bucs already have matched their victory total from last season and remain in prime position to end a 12- year playoff drought.
“He’s unbelievable,’’ Reid said. ‘‘ He’s a great player, a Hall of Fame player. . . . He’s old, and it’s hard to tell he’s old. And that’s a tribute to how he takes care of himself and the care and living he does all the way around, from diet to workout to everything.”
The Chiefs have won five in a row, the eighth consecutive year they’ve had a streak at least that long.
They avenged their lone loss last week with a 35- 31 victory at Las Vegas.
Mahomes, who has thrown for just over 312 yards per game with 14 touchdown passes and one interception during Kansas City’s winning streak, was as surprised as anyone that Brady left the Patriots to sign with Tam
pa Bay in free agency last March.
“But he’s in a great spot; they’ve got a lot of weapons there,” Mahomes said, looking ahead to another head- to- head meeting.
“I don’t think it’s going to feel very much different. It’s still a very good football team that’s playing really good football and winning a lot of games. I know it’s going to be a really big challenge for us.”
Brady threw two costly interceptions and was 0- for- 6 on passes traveling at least 20 yards in last week’s 27- 24 loss to the Rams. He’s 0- for- 19 on such throws in the last three games, which includes a 38- 3 loss to the Saints.
The struggles have raised questions about whether the offense Brady is being asked to run after a historic 20- year stint with the Patriots is suited to what he does best.
Bucs coach Bruce Arians concedes the offense has been inconsistent but blames that on a lack of continuity caused in part by teams not having a usual offseason because
of the coronavirus pandemic and injuries that have forced lineup changes and limited practice time for some players.
“He can do anything, so it’s not like he can’t do it,” Arians said in response to critics who suggest the problem is the offensive scheme, which stresses pushing the ball downfield.
“We’ve had the guys open. We’ve just missed them. Each week is so different, but when they’re there, we need to hit them. We can’t have them going off our fingertips, and we can’t overthrow them.”
Brady has lots of good things to say about Mahomes and the Chiefs, who lead the league in scoring at 32.1 points per game.
“He’s a terrific player, obviously,’’ Brady said. ‘‘ They’ve got their offense rolling. I feel continuity is probably the most critical aspect of consistent performance. . . . They’ve been in that system for a while. Coach Reid’s been there for a while. He’s a great coach. . . . They’ve been tough to beat for a lot of years now.”