For better or worse, the New England Patriots are likely going to be competing weekly with one NFC team despite not having them on their entire 2020 regular-season schedule.
That team, of course, is Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And don’t be surprised by the topics regarding who’s better off — Brady’s Bucs or head coach Bill Belichick’s Patriots.
After all, it was the topic of conversation for Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday. Smith ultimately explained why he trusted Brady and Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians more than Belichick and Patriots likely starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham.
“Well, I’m certainly going to go with coach Arians and Tom Brady. Number 1, the greatness of Tom Brady can’t be denied. Number 2, the last time I checked Bruce Arians, the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that had the No. 3 ranked offense in terms of points, in terms of yards and they had the No. 1 passing attack in terms of yards last season with Jameis Winston,” Smith explained. “… We can’t ignore that.
“… And so to me, Bruce Arians has a really solid resume as an offensive mind in the National Football League, and then you add Brady and Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) to the mix too?,” Smith continued. “I don’t think there’s any question that when it comes to a matter of trust on the offensive side of the ball, I would go with Brady and Arians over Belichick and Stidham because Stidham is a novice. He’s going to go through some growing pains…”
Smith, however, did depict if he was speaking in regards to defense and overall team success, he could lean a different way.
And, of course, that is what’s going to matter when the NFL’s 2020 season gets started. But even still, it will be interesting to see how the two teams fare, and thus the conversations that come out of their respective seasons.
