Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians had some huge success alongside Tom Brady, bringing home a Super Bowl championship in the 2020-21 season. Things did not go as smoothly for Tampa Bay this past season after Arians famously stepped down before it began. He revealed why he believes that was the case.
Arians went on The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday, where he revealed his thoughts on the Buccaneers’ struggles this past season. He cited a number of key injuries to key players like defensive end Shaq Barrett and Ryan Jensen as major contributors to their disappointing year.
However, his biggest reason included Tom Brady, saying that he thought Brady “wasn’t himself” this past season.
“Tom wasn’t himself, you know, with all the things that were going on,” Arians said on the show transcribed by Joebucfan.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.”
Tom Brady himself admitted that he had a ton going on heading into the season due to the marital problems with Gisele Bündchen, which ultimately led to their divorce back in October.
There certainly appeared to be plenty of other issues on the field that also contributed to the Buccaneers’ struggles, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
Tampa Bay’s rushing game was almost nonexistent, rushing for an NFL-low 76.9 yards per game. This forced Brady to throw for a career-high number of pass attempts last season.
Now that Brady has seemingly retired for good from the NFL, we will see how well the Buccaneers do in the future without the future Hall of Famer at the helm.