Getty The Bucs could sign Tom Brady to a contract extension.
Tom Brady may not be criticizing Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians but those who know the legendary quarterback are not holding back. During an interview with Boston’s WEEI, Brady’s former Patriots teammate Teddy Bruschi was critical of Arians for being “stubborn” and believes the Bucs need to adapt the offense to suit their new quarterback.
“I think there is a combination of two things that is holding the Tampa Bay offense back and also Brady in terms of his success and one is Bruce Arians because the guy is just stubborn,” Bruschi said, via Yahoo Sports. “Tom is in the middle of a team with a head coach that our old Patriots teams would love going up against team like this. They have the philosophy of we do what we do and we’re just going to do it, we’re better than you, we think our players are better so go ahead and do what you want I’m still going to throw my deep routes and all this and all of that.”
Bruschi also wants to see more consistency from the running backs, particularly in the passing game. He noted that quick passes to the running backs would allow Brady to extend drives.
“And the second thing is holding that offense back are the running backs,” Bruschi added. “They can’t catch. … I mean as a quarterback, let me get my five, man. All I want is five. Catch it and fall forward and it’s 2nd-and-6 or it’s 2nd-and-7. …You can see the look on Tom’s face, ‘Dude, you will never be James White.’ Something like that. Those are the easy yards that you take that Tom just doesn’t have anymore so he’s got to push it down the field.”
Arians Is ‘Not a Big Fan’ of Pre-Snap Motion
Bruschi is not alone in his criticism as CBS Sports’ Tony Romo pointed out during the Bucs-Chiefs matchup that there are several changes Tampa could make to the offense to give Brady a better chance to succeed. Romo identified the lack of play-action and pre-snap motion as two additions that could be utilized to help Brady. Heading into the team’s bye, Arians was asked if the Bucs would consider using more pre-snap motion and the coach admitted he was “not a big fan” of the idea.
“We’ve done it in the past – we did it for years. Peyton Manning never wanted anybody in motion, so each quarterback is so different [with] what they want the motion for,” Arians explained, per Buccaneers.com. “We have used jet motion a little bit. I’m not a big fan of it if it’s going to disrupt what you’re doing versus just blocking people.”
Brady Labeled Criticism of Arians as ‘Outside Noise’
Arians has not shied away from criticizing Brady since he arrived in Tampa, but the Buccaneers quarterback has not returned the favor. Brady shot down the notion that there was tension with Arians.
“It’s just external noise that when you’re losing, that’s what you deal with,” Brady noted, via Sports Illustrated. “I love playing for the guys that I play with, the coaches, the whole organization’s been unbelievable. I think we’ve just gotta go out, I’ve certainly gotta go out and do a better job the last four weeks of the year.”
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