The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been forced to play damage control this week in wake of their season-opening loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Not only did Tampa Bay fall to a division rival Sunday in its first game with Tom Brady under center. Bucs coach Bruce Arians also was rather critical of the quarterback’s Week 1 performance.
Arians downplayed the situation Wednesday, insisting his relationship with Brady is “fine” ahead of Tampa Bay’s Week 2 game against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium.
Brady followed up with a simple, straightforward reaction Thursday when asked about Arians’ public postgame criticism.
Byron Leftwich, a middle man, so to speak, given his role as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator, doesn’t suspect there are any problems between Brady and Arians as the team looks to bounce back.
“That’s what I know of B.A. Me and Tom didn’t really talk about it, so obviously I don’t think it was an issue,” Leftwich told reporters during a video conference. “It’s B.A. being B.A. All we can worry about is getting to practice, work, get better (and) try to fix our mistakes so we can go out there and try to win football games.”
Winning, of course, cures everything. So, a victory over the Panthers — another divisional opponent — probably would go a long way toward calming the outside scrutiny.
Then again, Brady dealt with a much different coach in Bill Belichick during his 20 seasons with the New England Patriots. It’s fair to wonder how Arians’ approach will sit with the 43-year-old QB as the season progresses.
Meanwhile, Cam Newton’s tenure as the Patriots’ new starting quarterback has gone swimmingly so far. But hey, what’s one week on the NFL schedule?
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
