Bucs coach Arians: ‘Tom and I are fine’
TAMPA — Tom Brady fans from the Berkshires to Bradenton were shocked — a few were outraged — when he was called out by Bucs head coach Bruce Arians for throwing two interceptions in the team’s 34-23 loss at New Orleans Sunday.
They have wondered aloud if there is trouble in paradise brewing between Brady and Arians.
But on Wednesday, Arians put that to rest.
“Tom and I are fine, so I don’t really care what other people think,” Arians said. “It’s just what he and I think. We left the stadium fine [and] we showed up today fine, so there [is] nothing to talk about.”
The scrutiny began right after Sunday’s game, when Arians described Brady’s two interceptions.
“One was a miscommunication between [Brady] and Mike [Evans],” Arians said after the game Sunday. “He thought Mike was going down the middle — it was a different coverage — Mike read it right. He should have been across his face, but Tom overthrew it.
“The other one was a screen pass with an outlet called. He threw the outlet and it was a picksix. Bad decision.”
Arians doubled down on Monday, saying he needed to see more “determination” from Brady in practice this week but admitted Evans had run the wrong route.
Those comments lit up social media. Apparently, in 20 years with the Patriots, Brady was never criticized publicly by coach Bill Beli
chick.
Radio hosts on WEEI in Boston said Arians had thrown Brady under the bus. Even Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre said Arians had made a mistake.
“I think the last person you want to call out after the first game of the year is Tom Brady,” Favre told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “Now maybe they had a mutual truce going into the game, going into the season: ‘Hey, I’m going to be hard on you. I want the guys to know we’re going to treat you the same even though technically I’m not, so are you okay with it?’ If they have that truce, great. If not, I think you are barking up the wrong tree. Dissension could easily enter quickly.”
It’s important to note that Arians has coached Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Palmer, to name a few. You can bet Brady did his homework on Arians before choosing to play for him over Belichick in 2020.
Arians was asked Wednesday if he was amused by all the criticism of his public critique of Brady.
“I was amused when they handed us the Lombardi trophy in July,” Arians said. “It’s part of the business. You go with it and it’s one week at a time [and] one day
at a time. We win a few games in a row and everybody will be back on the bandwagon [and] happy. It’s just part of the game. If we lose this week, the world will come to an end.”
Brady kept his response short if not necessarily sweet Thursday when asked about his reaction to the public critique he received from Arians.
“You know, he’s the coach, so… I’m a player. Just trying to win a game,” Brady said tersely.
Brady said the Bucs have a lot to improve upon from Sunday’s game and have worked hard in better communication this week in practice.
“I think it’s a long process of trying to improve in a lot of different areas,” Brady said. “I think about being the best I can be and the process I have to go through in order to make that happen. So every week is a little different challenge. And I think it starts with great communication, understanding how to win the game, how to lose the game. Being on the same page with my teammates so we can go execute.
“So, obviously, if you turn the ball over, it makes it very difficult to win. If you set yourself back with penalties, negative plays, pass game or run game, it’s a game of scoring points so you’ve got to figure out how to score more points than the other team. There’s been a lot of focus this week and a lot of communication on types of things.”