Brady flourishes in TB while coach he left behind flounders

Tom Brady accounted for five touchdowns in a profitable trip to Las Vegas. The coach he left behind in New England led his team to six points and a third straight loss.

For those who accept the premise that the six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback left the Patriots to prove elsewhere that he was the backbone to that dynasty, well, he’s doing precisely that for Tampa Bay.

Meanwhile, Bill Belichick’s current Patriots are adding credence to that theory.

The Buccaneers have scored 222 points, topping the league, even ahead of the defending champion Chiefs. Tampa is 5-2 and Brady is a huge reason for that mark — for his arm, for his leadership, for his guile.

For all of the traits that have made him the most successful quarterback in the Super Bowl era.

Expecting Brady to offer much insight into his performances, particularly in the midst of a season, is like, well, expecting the same from Belichick. Ask the 43-year-old quarterback about what he did, and you get:

“We’re 5-2, in a decent place, not quite at the halfway point in the year. We’ve got a lot of football left. We’re going to need everybody, and we’re going to need everybody’s best. And we’re going to expect everybody’s best, and we’re going to try to meet the challenge every week.”

As for meeting the challenge, in his last five games Brady has 15 TD passes and one interception. In a new town, a different uniform, with a whole new set of teammates — and during a coronavirus pandemic that basically stripped teams of organized in-person workouts for months.

“I think it’s knowing the guys better, knowing the system better, everything that we change each week,” said Bucs coach Bruce Arians, who is getting the kind of nonpareil contributions from Brady that Belichick profited from for two decades.

While dreams of a run deep into the postseason flow through Bucs Nation, the atmosphere in New England is a tad darker. For now, call it flopping in Foxborough.

The Patriots’ 27-point loss to San Francisco was their largest at home under Belichick, according to Elias Sports Bureau. They had gone 286 games without a three-game losing streak, the longest span between three-game slides in NFL history. New England fell to 2-4 for the first time since Belichick’s first season in 2000, when the Patriots went 5-11.

The last year Brady wasn’t the quarterback.

A week ago, the Patriots didn’t allow a touchdown and still lost to Arizona. This time, they didn’t score a touchdown. The defense isn’t terrible, but it’s hardly a world beater.

The offense is inept, and it’s missing the world beater now in Tampa.