Bruce Arians has no problem with Tom Brady shouting at his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates.
Shannon Sharpe, on the other hand, isn’t a fan of Brady’s emotional sideline outbursts.
Brady, known for holding his teammates accountable while with the New England Patriots, gave Bucs center Ryan Jensen an earful last Thursday night in Tampa Bay’s 20-19 loss to the Chicago Bears. Arians since has defended Brady’s leadership tactics, with the Bucs coach on Tuesday telling reporters he’s not going to ask his quarterback to be anybody different.
Sharpe isn’t buying that philosophy, though. The former NFL tight end explained Wednesday on FS1’s “Undisputed” he has a serious issue with Brady chewing out his teammates for the whole world to see.
“I’ve got a big problem with it,” Sharpe said. “As great as he is, Tom Brady’s a player. He and I are on equal footing. Although he is a greater player than I am, he’s a player. He’s not the coach. Tom Brady’s name does not appear on my check.
“I believe there’s a healthy level of respect that must be shown between teammates. No matter how great you are — you’re 1 or 53 — there needs to be a level of respect there.”
Perhaps complicating matters is Brady’s performance to date. He’s been decent through five games with the Bucs, but he’s also made his share of mistakes, like seemingly forgetting what down it was on Tampa Bay’s final offensive drive in Week 5 against Chicago.
” The problem that you run into when you start yelling and screaming at other guys’ mistakes, and you throw pick sixes,” Sharpe said. “Because I’m gonna come to you if you yell at me and say, ‘Bruh, can you throw it to the guys in your color uniform and not the other guys? That would greatly help us win this ballgame.’ You don’t want to get into a back and forth.”
Brady is a fiery competitor. There’s no denying that. And one could argue it’s a major reason why he’s been so successful in the NFL, winning six Super Bowl titles while cementing himself as the greatest QB of all time.
But the aesthetics aren’t great when Brady chews out a teammate, only to turn around and play well below his prime level. So, his interactions in Tampa Bay will be an interesting storyline to monitor as his first season with a franchise other than New England unfolds.
