Tom Brady officially said goodbye to the NFL earlier this month following a trying 2022 season both on and off the field. And, according to Bruce Arians, the legendary quarterback appeared to be having a hard time navigating those challenges throughout his final campaign.
The former Buccaneers coach and current team consultant offered a blunt of assessment of Brady’s swan song during a Thursday appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. Arians—Tampa Bay’s coach from 2019 through Brady’s first season in ’20—claimed fans didn’t see the “real” version of the veteran QB due to the 45-year-old dealing with several personal issues, which notably included a divorce from wife Gisele Bündchen after 13 years.
“Tom wasn’t himself, you know, with all the things that were going on,” Arians told Eisen, via Masslive.com. “And I got to give him all the credit in the world for battling through what he went through last year for his teammates. I think the world of him but it wasn’t the real Tom Brady out there.”
As harsh as Arians’s analysis may sound, it’s not hard to understand his stance considering how Brady’s season unfolded.
The news of Brady and Bündchen’s divorce became public on Oct. 28, a day after the Bucs dropped to 3–5 with a Week 8 loss to the Ravens. A few hours later, Bucs coach Todd Bowles answered a tough question regarding whether or not he believed Brady would be affected by the proceedings. It’s also worth noting that the news came just a couple months after Brady notably missed 11 days of training camp due to personal reasons, which was later reported to be a family vacation.
“I can’t say for sure. You know Tom is a very private person. He does his job when he’s out here and he smiles a lot and that’s really all you can go by,” Bowles told reporters.
As Brady dealt with his personal life, Tampa Bay continued to struggle on a weekly basis. Injuries to key players in pass rusher Shaq Barrett and center Ryan Jensen, both of which Arians cited as detrimental to the team, weakened an already subpar group that went on to post an 8–9 record.
Despite the poor finish, Brady and the Bucs backpedaled into the postseason after winning the NFC South with a win over the Panthers in Week 17. The team went on to lose to the Cowboys, 31–14, in the wild-card round.
As for Brady, his numbers took a dip from the play he displayed in two seasons with Arians, a run that included a victory in Super Bowl LV. The seven-time champion tallied 4,694 yards, 25 touchdowns, his lowest TD output since his last Patriots season in 2019, and nine interceptions.
