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Things looked worse for a moment amid the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ blowout loss when Tom Brady‘s throwing hand took a direct blow from a San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Samson Ebukam’s helmet.
Brady kept playing despite the hit amid a 37-5 defeat on Sunday, December 11. He downplayed hurting his hand after the game.
“It’s alright. It’s fine. No problem,” Brady told reporters.
Tom Brady hit his hand very hard on a #49ers defender’s helmet. t.co/8pBchHCuTO
It wouldn’t mark the first time this season, or in his career, that Brady sustained an injury and didn’t reveal it himself. He hurt his hand in Week 2 during a botched snap against the New Orleans Saints and downplayed it until it showed on the injury report. He also downplayed a shoulder injury that he sustained in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Previously, Brady played with a torn MCL in the 2020 season and didn’t reveal it until after the season when he had surgery. Brady played that entire season and led the Bucs to a Super Bowl win.
This year’s Bucs squad looks far from a Super Bowl contender amid its latest loss, but Brady will look to turn things around in Week 15 though answers are wearing thin. It won’t get any easier with the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals coming to town on December 18.
“Last week doesn’t affect today. Today won’t affect next week. Next week will be its own individual outcome and performance, and it will be based on what we do this week as we prepare for, and then ultimately for the three hours that we play,” Brady told reporters.
Todd Bowles Reveals Why He Wouldn’t Pull Brady
Tampa Bay trailed 28-0 at halftime and then 35-0 in the third quarter at San Francisco, but Bucs head coach Todd Bowles kept playing Brady despite the on-field carnage.
“We were still trying to score some points,” Bowles told the media on Monday. “I think [the 49ers] held the ball the last part of it. Just to hand the ball off and concede the game, that wasn’t it. We were trying to work on some things, so we let him stay in the game.”
The Bucs mustered a touchdown during the second half, but the offense showed little else for results in a rain-soaked second half. Brady completed 61.8% of his passes and finished with a 63.7 quarterback rating. Rookie running back Rachaad White amounted to 56 yards rushing, and Leonard Fournette only had 13. None of the Bucs receivers went above 54 yards.
“I mean, we missed some plays [Sunday] on offense, we got some penalties on offense,” Bowles said. “Same thing on defense. We can make enough tweaks to where we feel like we’re close enough that we can score some points.”
Injuries Mount for Bucs
Already beset by injuries in the secondary, the Bucs added more on Sunday in San Francisco.
Cornerback Jamel Dean went down with a toe injury and wore a boot after the game. Rookie defensive back Zyon McCollum took a hit that led to concussion protocol, but he returned to finish the game. The Bucs already had three starting-caliber defensive backs sidelined the game: Antoine Winfield Jr. (ankle), Sean Murphy-Bunting (quad), and Mike Edwards (hamstring).
Tampa Bay also took hits in the front seven of the defense with injuries to linebacker Joe Tyron-Shoyinka (hip) and nose tackle Vita Vea (calf strain). Bowles didn’t have any promising updates on Monday regarding the players injured on Sunday.
“We’re waiting for results to come back now,” Bowles said.
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Tom Brady Breaks Silence on Possible Injury