Tom Brady is going to face a lot of changes now that he’s a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. New city, new team, new commute, new fanbase … it’s all new.
Another new thing he’s going to have to deal with is a coach who is willing to call him out for his mistakes to the media.
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians did exactly that after Tampa Bay’s loss to New Orleans on Sunday, making clear that it was Tom Brady — not his receivers or anyone else — who was responsible for the two interceptions he threw.
Talking to media after game, Arians talked about the two interceptions, saying that “one was a miscommunication between [Brady] and Mike [Evans]. 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 pick-six. Bad decision.”
These comments may seem more or less innocuous, just simple descriptions of what happened. But make no mistake, Arians put both picks on Brady. He made clear that Evans made the right read on the first pick. On the second pick, it was a “bad decision” by Brady.
This will be new to Brady, because his old coach made a point never to do anything like it.
For anyone who’s slogged through countless Bill Belichick Patriots press conferences over the years, you know that assigning blame to his quarterback was something that very, very rarely happened, if it ever happened at all.
When asked to describe a bad interception thrown by Brady in a game, Belichick would usually offer a non-answer, something like “we need to look at the tape” or “that’s something we’ll need to talk about” or, perhaps, he would give credit to the defense for making a good play. If the Patriots loss, he’d just grimace and say “on to Cincinnati.”
In private, multiple reports have shown that Belichick was just as harsh on Brady as other players, if not more so. But to the press? He’d never say a word.
Arians is much more frank with reporters than Belichick ever was, and this may be a reflection of that. He may be trying to send a message to the other Buccaneers that Brady will be held just as accountable as anyone else. It may even be his way of saying to Brady “I know you’re strong enough and confident enough to handle the criticism.”
Whatever it is, it’s new. And it’s something Brady, along with every other change, will have to get used to.
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