Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been labelled as ‘frauds’ after the team slipped to a frustrating defeat to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
With his team suffering a swathe of injuries, Brady completed 29-of-43 passes for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns in vain as the Bucs fell 23-17 to the Browns in overtime. Tampa Bay slipped to 5-6 as a result while the lowly Browns moved to 4-7 ahead of the controversial return of Deshaun Watson.
Brady’s side are 5-6 after the loss to the Browns, although they still occupy first place in the NFC South as the Atlanta Falcons are 5-7. It means they are set to reach the playoffs and even host a Wild Card team at Raymond James stadium, despite their publicised struggles.
With Brady and the Buccaneers still on track to reach the postseason, some people are clamouring that they could go all the way and win Super Bowl LVII due to their iconic quarterback’s heralded success in the playoffs throughout his illustrious career. However, The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia is calling on fans to resist the urge to back the Buccaneers for success this time around.
“My take is that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are complete frauds,” Kapadia said on The Ringer’s NFL Show. “It’s over. Don’t get suckered into thinking the NFC is wide open at any point in the next month and don’t get suckered into thinking, ‘Well, they still have Tom Brady, they still have some talented pieces’ - no. That game on Sunday was a pathetic performance by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on so many levels.
“They had about 400 opportunities to put that game away against the [Cleveland] Browns. They failed to produce a single point on their final seven possessions against a defence that ranks 30th in DVOA. We’ve had 12 weeks of the offence; they’re 22nd in EPA per drive. They’re below average by any metric you want to look at and now they’ve lost Tristan Wirfs, their right tackle for at least a month ago. That offence is not getting fixed.
“But what really irked me about this game was some of the worst clock management you will ever see in an NFL game… It’s an absolute disaster.
“Whether it is Tom Brady, Todd Bowles, Byron Leftwich or the combination of all three but I don’t understand how Tom Brady could have played in this many games and doesn’t just take control.”
Kapadia was ultimately furious with the way the Buccaneers drove down the field with 32 seconds and three timeouts left on their own 25. After a gain of a single yard on a screen pass, the Bucs allowed time to run down before Brady found Julio Jones for 26 yards. However, no timeouts were called.
It inexplicably left the Bucs with eight seconds to run a play to get into range for the game-winning field goal, and Brady’s incompletion led to overtime and, ultimately, a defeat. When considering head coach Todd Bowles’ reasoning for not wanting Brady to throw the ball due to the risk of an interception, Kapadia was apoplectic.
“Tom Brady has thrown two interceptions on 470 passing attempts - a 0.4% risk,” Kapadia continued. “You are taking the ball out of the hands of the greatest quarterback we have ever seen play and you feel better about going to overtime.
“I’m done with this team; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are complete frauds."
Brady’s 5-6 Buccaneers will look to return to winning ways when they welcome their bitter division rival New Orleans Saints to Raymond James Stadium on Monday Night Football in Week 13. Brady has 1-4 record against the Saints in regular season contests since he joined the Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 campaign.
