NFL icon Tom Brady was left furious with the performance of his Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they slipped to an embarrassing defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers that threatens to derail his retirement swan song.
Tampa Bay fell to a 3-3 record as the Steelers - who moved to 2-4 - claimed a 20-18 win. Backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky led Pittsburgh to the unlikely win after replacing injured rookie Kenny Pickett.
Trubisky threw a six-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter while Brady struggled against the Steelers defence, who snapped a four-game losing streak with the win. The 45-year-old finished with 243 yards and a touchdown as he ultimately enjoyed little time to throw behind the line.
Brady scored his lone touchdown pass of the day with 4:38 remaining as he picked out Leonard Fournette for an 11-yard score, which cut Pittsburgh’s lead to two. Steelers linebacker Devin Bush broke up the subsequent two-point conversion - and Trubisky made further plays to hold the ball and run out the clock to secure a much-needed victory.
Brady - a seven-time Super Bowl champion - pulled no punches as he fired a public message to his teammates following the defeat. The Bucs were heavy favourites entering the Week 6 contest and he has called on the team to do more.
“We didn’t earn it,” Brady told reporters after the game. “Didn’t earn the win, so it’s a game of earning it and it’s a game of playing well and performing well, and we’re just not doing a good job of that. I think we’ve done it for six weeks. I think we’re all playing less than what we’re capable of, and we’ve all got to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out why.”
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The Buccaneers offence was stagnant on Sunday as they scored just 18 points - the fifth time in six games they’ve scored 21 points or less. According to The Athletic, Tampa Bay had scored 21 points or less in a combined five games over the previous two seasons.
Pittsburgh’s defence was ranked 26th in the league as they welcomed the Buccaneers, but Brady and co. went just four-of-14 on third-down conversions and one-of-four on red zone attempts. Through six games this season, Tampa Bay ranks 14th in the league in third-down efficiency and 15th in red zone efficiency.
Brady was furious with his offensive line as they struggled against a team that had just three sacks in the last four games coming into Week 6. When asked if the offensive line was the issue, Brady declared it was the entire offence rather than one position group.
“It’s all of us,” Brady said. “It’s the whole offence. We all have to do a better job. The run game, the pass game. Everyone has to do a better job. Obviously there’s no position that’s performing at an elite level right now.”
