Mark LoMoglio / Associated Press
Despite falling 27-24 to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, Tom Brady and the 7-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers remained contenders in the incredible NFC. But inconsistent play by Brady and his supporting cast, especially in important places – is becoming a matter of considerable concern.
Brady and Books have played four games against seven or more winning teams. They’re 1-3, with Brody throwing seven interceptions in three losses.
They have also played four prime-time games. They are 1-3- 1-3, with a win alone, only points- York will win by just two points from the New York Giants. Brady has five interruptions in that loss.
“Still trying to figure this out,” Bruce Arians, the books’ head coach, said of Brady’s struggles in the big games.
The good news is that the Buccaneers play defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs next week, they have 13 byes of the week and end the season against four opponents with four or fewer wins.
The bad news is that if they don’t perform well against the Chiefs on a short break, they’ll enter the playoffs with the monkey (if they make it), even if it’s firmly on their backs.
Excluding the unlikely Flex, they will not play in prime time again this year and will thus end up with a 0-4 record against the spread on national television.
Jason Bankan / Associated Press
It’s good for the Bucs that they broke through the Giants and kept the business focused against significantly inferior opponents in the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers.
And the victory over the Green Bay Packers and the win over the Las Vegas Riders provide optimism, but the Green Bay win has come at extra rest (which will be out of the window in January unless they come back to get some numbers. Seed at the conference) , And it may not be ideal that his two best performances of the year came back-to-back weeks.
Maybe it suggests they could get hotter in the playoffs and put on more games like the Green Month and Las Vegas outscored two games last month at -30-30-30, but Brad D has been 82૨ weak in four games since then. .5 has put a pass rating and fluctuations by offense are now worrisome.
Tampa Bay has scored not more than 25 but not less than 38 points in the game since Week 3. It is encouraging that he scored 38 against the Chargers and Packers, 45 against the Raiders and 46 last week in Carolina, but he was last beaten by the New Orleans Saints in Tampa. Came almost after being closed.
There have been a lot of dudes. And even though they were managing 24 points on Monday, to see if you had to watch the game or look beyond the score of the score, it was a fairly-agile offensive performance.
Brad D didn’t get much help from the short line or the supporting cast that dropped many passes (especially the running back), but Femmer’s future hole threw two outrageous hurdles on weakly thrown balls against the management pressure of a four-man rush, and when He argued with a strip-sack in his final zone when the play ruled the incomplete pass.
Now, just Carson Wentz Philadelphia Eagles And Chicago Bears ’Nick Fallows has thrown more picks on a deep unda pass than Brady this season, which was 0-of-7 with two interruptions in a passing unda pass attempt. He has now.3. pas (not but not 93) has a deep passer rating Nine-point-three) In four losses to Tampa Bay, the worst mark in the NFL in the quarterbacks who have tried to pass more than 10% of a yard pass.
For comparison, in the win, his rating on deep ball is 112.5. And yes, there are a few skeptical quarterbacks who pass better in victories than losses in general, but that’s a darkness.
It is also worth noting that Monday’s game, two attempts against the New Orleans and a soft Week 5 against Chicago are Brady’s only games against defense that rank in the top 10 in defense-adjusted value above average among football outsiders in 10 weeks.
On this outing, Brady has five touchdown passes, seven intervals, an completion percentage of just 58.9, an average of yard-per-effort, ratings of just 5.6 and 66.9.
He won’t, and it’s clear that he and his teammates won’t always be bailed out by a talented and aggressive defense that has a boom and a bust. Rams head coach Sean McVeigh planned a smart game this week, neutralizing the awkward defensive front with an array of short, fast passes, frequent pre-snap movements and a pace that was difficult to cope with.
Not everyone has the brains and staff to accomplish this against the books, but playoff teams are more likely to get the things they need than the rest of the NFL.
Keep it all together, and the bucks may have trouble getting into part of the house.
Brad Gagan has covered the NFL for the Bleacher Report since 2012. Follow him on Twitter, @Brad_gaggan.
