Getty Tom Brady has backed Bruce Arians on multiple occasions.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians was happy to pull out a victory over the Buffalo Bills in Week 14, but he was not thrilled with Tom Brady taking hits on a few quarterback runs. Arians was asked about Brady sustaining a few blows as he ran with the football, and the Bucs coach admitted he would like to see the quarterback slide in those situations.
“Yeah, that’s enough of that s***,” Arians said a bit tongue-in-cheek during his December 12 postgame press conference.
Arians was also asked what was going through his mind as Brady took off for the first down.
“He don’t like it [running the ball] that much, but get your a** on the ground,” Arians added.
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Brady had seven carries for 16 yards and a touchdown in the team’s win over the Bills. After the game, Arians was told it was the most Brady had rushed for in 10 years and the coach joked “that’s enough,” meaning he hopes his franchise quarterback’s days as a running back are over.
Here is a look at Arians’ full comments after the Bucs’ win over the Bills.
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Arians on Brady: ‘It Wasn’t His Best Second Half’
Bruce Arians’ thoughts on Tom Brady dropping his shoulder into a defensive back to run for a first down:
Arians believes Brady struggled at times in the second half against the Bills but praised the quarterback’s ability to bounce back in overtime. The Bucs coach noted the the second half offensive struggles were due to “missed wide open guys” putting the blame on Brady without mentioning the quarterback by name. Brady completed 31-of-46 passes for 363 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
“No, he’s fine, we checked him a number of times,” Arians said, denying Brady was dealing with an injury. “It wasn’t his best second half. It was a great first half and a good overtime.”
Arians Took a Jab at the Bills’ Decision to Use Allen as a Runner
Tony and Peyton hating from the booth! Come on guys… @EAMaddenNFL
The Bucs could not seem to find an answer for slowing down Allen’s rushing ability. The Bills quarterback had 12 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown. Tampa Bay had a 24-3 lead at halftime, but Allen was able to help orchestrate a Buffalo comeback to send the game to overtime. Arians had no problem critiquing the Bills’ game plan, noting that he would not run the ball as much as Buffalo does with Allen.
“Oh yeah, he’s more like Cam Newton but with a bigger, stronger arm,” Arians noted. “We talked about the designed quarterback runs are tough. I wouldn’t put my quarterback in that much harm’s way, because he did get nicked up a little bit. But they did a heck of a job with him.”
When it mattered most, Brady threw a walk-off 58-yard touchdown pass to Breshad Perriman to win the game. Brady noted that the defensive attention to Mike Evans allowed Perriman to get open then utilize his speed to score the touchdown.
“We had a crosser called, and they kind of jumped Mike [Evans] going across the field, and left BP [Perriman] back there, and I just kind of picked him out of the corner of my eye and got it to him and he made a great catch and run,” Brady explained during his postgame media session. “So, he’s got great speed and once I saw him in the open field, I was going to go ‘BP, run!’ And he did.”