When the Buccaneers went quarterback hunting this past offseason after moving on from Florida State University superstar Jameis Winston, they never thought in their wildest dreams that the name Tom Brady would come to their consensus. The former New England Patriots’ quarterback decided to leave the team that drafted him in the 6th round all the way back in 2000, where he spent 19 illustrious years.
Brady had a career resume in Foxborough, Massachusetts that manifested prominence at his helm. A 6-time Super Bowl Champion, 4-time Super Bowl MVP, 3-time NFL MVP, 2-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and an NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. He also led the league in four seasons with the most passing touchdowns, three seasons with the most passing yards, two seasons with the best passer rating, and in one season had the best completion percentage of any quarterback.
At 43 years old, many thought he would hang up the cleats and retire after spending almost two decades in New England, but Tampa Bay offered him a two-year contract that he couldn’t resist.
Once he agreed to the deal, the Bucs welcomed him with open arms, and there was absolutely no stopping Brady from taking control of the city. From defining the trademarks “Tompa Bay” and “TB12” to violating the NFL corona virus rules to recruiting tight end Rob Gronkowski out of retirement, the bread and butter of his offense in New England, he was keeping himself extremely occupied and he hadn’t even reached the ocean-blue beaches yet.
Nicknamed the “GOAT,” or Greatest of All Time back in his elderly stomping grounds, he was living up to the hype and elicited a lasting first impression on the lightning capital of the world. However, were the Tampa faithful placing their sights a little bit too far into the future with their new legendary play caller?
In Brady’s first game against the Saints, he threw two touchdowns and two interceptions, one of those interceptions being a pick six, which resulted in a 34-23 defeat. Since then, Brady has thrown 26 touchdowns but has matched that with 9 more interceptions, bringing him to a 28 touchdown and 11 interception mark so far through Week 12.
Brady has already thrown more interceptions than he did last season, highlighted by his three, two-interception games and one, three-interception game. The most picks he’s thrown in a single season was 14 of them, and with four games left on the regular season, time will not only tell if he will eclipse that mark, but if the Bucs will be one of the playoff teams come the beginning of next year.
With two straight 27-24 losses to the Rams and Chiefs in Tampa Bay, their record now stands at 7-5. Despite being above .500, the playoff race will be extremely tight till the end as currently, the Bucs are in ownership of the second wild card spot and are on the inside looking out at many other teams including the Cardinals, 49ers, Bears, and the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaking of the Vikings, here lies their next opponent that is fast approaching in two weeks with the bye week occurring in Week 13. This off-time for Brady may be a massive opportunity for him to recollect on what his squad has done well and what they need to work on up to this point.
Yet, Brady has a stat line that never was an issue for him in New England as his record thus far in primetime or under-the-lights games is 1-3 this season. Fortunately for him, their last 4 competitions aren’t primetime, but if Tampa Bay wants to play more, they need the old Tom Brady back.
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