Tom Brady made his Buccaneers debut on Sunday. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t go well.
Brady finished 23-of-36 for 239 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and three sacks in a 34-23 loss to New Orleans, with much of his production coming when the game was out of reach.
Thoughts?
“I hate to say it,” Tiki Barber said on Tiki & Tierney. “I haven’t said it in three years since he’s hit 40: old. He looked old and immobile and not able to get around. And in contrast, Cam Newton looked amazing in that Pats’ offense.”
Newton threw for 155 yards and ran for 75 yards and two touchdowns in New England’s 21-11 win over Miami on Sunday.
Brady, meanwhile, threw a pick-six early in the third quarter that put the Buccaneers in a 24-7 hole. Tampa Bay pulled to within 24-17 but couldn’t get any closer.
“We had expectations for the Buccaneers because there’s so much talent on that squad,” Barber said. “There’s the wide receiving corps, the tight ends – they got three really superstar tight ends. Cameron Brate is so good, O.J. Howard should evolve into one, and obviously Gronk. Gronk didn’t do anything. I didn’t even hear his name for half of the game.”
Rob Gronkowski had two catches for 11 yards, while Mike Evans had one catch – a 2-yard touchdown grab – with less than three minutes to go. Tampa Bay limited Saints running back Alvin Kamara to 16 yards on 12 carries, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.
“Defensively, they’re still one of the best . . . statistically against the run,” Barber said of the Bucs. “The problem is Tom Brady made mistake after mistake. He missed passes, he threw interceptions – a pick-six that ultimately cost them the game. It’s hard not to feel let down. Because what we wanted to see was Tom Brady . . . as a savior for Tampa Bay – and he might not be.
“I don’t want to say it, I don’t want to believe it, it’s one game – I’m not going to overreact,” Barber continued. “But you never know. I always say this: eventually you just walk off a cliff. You’re just done. You’re great and then you’re just done. I don’t believe it, but man, it didn’t look like he had that much left for most of that game.”
Asked for his level of concern on a scale of 1-10, Barber said 5. It isn’t higher because there wasn’t a preseason and Brady hasn’t had a lot of time to work with his new teammates.
“I’m not that concerned because of all the things that happened in the offseason,” Barber said. “But I am midway concerned at the 5-level with Tom Brady because he’s 43 years old. This is not what he’s been used to for the last 19 seasons. It’s not like he walks into that meeting room with Josh McDaniels and we have this rolodex of plays [ready] for 15, 19 years. He doesn’t have that with Byron Leftwich. It’s not like they can go sit in a room and figure this thing out in an hour-and-a-half. This is deep as they try to refigure Brady into this offense. I don’t think that’s going to be easy.”
Brady and the Bucs will try to get on track this Sunday at home against Carolina (0-1). Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. ET.