Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has one admission — he’s always complaining to referees.
During his weekly appearance on Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray on Monday, November 1, the 44-year-old quarterback said he’s constantly giving NFL referees a piece of his mind.
“I’m always complaining to the referees. … When they see that they get selected for my game, they lose sleep because they realize I’m a pain in the a**,” Brady said. “That’s just kind of the way it goes.”
Although he may give referees a lot of verbatim, Brady says it has little effect on the actual officiating of the game.
“Everyone’s yelling for calls, the other team’s yelling for calls, we’re yelling for calls,” Brady said. “There’s holding on every play in the NFL, it’s just whether they’re gonna call it or not. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t, they basically even out over the course of the season.”
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Buccaneers’ Undisciplined Play Cause for Concern
Brady’s “complaining” to the referees clearly didn’t help the Buccaneers during their most recent loss. The New Orleans Saints knocked off the Buccaneers in Week 8 by a score of 36-27.
One of the more glaring occurrences in the game happened in the penalties department. The Buccaneers committed an astounding 11 penalties for 99 yards. Meanwhile, the Saints committed just two penalties for a total of 10 yards.
The undisciplined nature of the Buccaneers’ play clearly played a role in the team’s loss. Tampa Bay has posted at least seven penalties in each of their games this season except for two games this season.
That’s something that clearly has to change if the Buccaneers are to repeat as Super Bowl champions — and it appears the 22-year veteran is well aware of that.
Instead of blaming the referees for the team’s second loss of the season, Brady is looking in the mirror as the cause.
“Whenever you lose, you got to point the finger at yourself. It’s not the referees,” Brady said. “It’s about our performance. It’s about what we need to do to improve, and I think that’s the best way to handle a loss.”
Arians Leaves Door Open for Ronald Jones Trade
The Buccaneers could trade running back Ronald Jones after all. It just has to be a very “extraordinary” offer, according to head coach Bruce Arians.
Only a couple of weeks after Arians ruled out trading the backup running back by the trade deadline — which is on Nov. 2 at 4 pm EST — he left the door open on a possible trade on Monday, November 1.
Via Jenna Laine of ESPN:
“It would have to be something really, really special. Because I love the way he’s running,” Arians said. “It’s just one nick on Leonard and then Rojo’s the guy. And so to me, it’s still a great one-two punch. It would have to be extraordinary.”
On Oct. 20, Arians had shut down talk of a possible trade involving Jones due to his value as Leonard Fournette’s backup.
Via Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times:
“No, none at all,” Arians had said of a possible Jones trade. “It’s a long season, and just that scenario that happened last year and still with COVID, you can’t have enough good backs.”
Jones had served as the Buccaneers’ starting running back during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. However, a fractured finger injury and a bout with COVID-19 paved the way for Fournette to take over as Tampa Bay’s starter in the postseason last year.
Fournette hasn’t given up the job ever since.
Considering the Buccaneers experience with injuries at key positions this season — cornerback, wide receiver and tight end — it would be a surprise to see the Buccaneers part ways with their fourth-year running back at the deadline.
Bucs’ Tom Brady Says He’s ‘Always’ Complaining to Refs