Report: Buccaneers feel they’re playing better without Tom Brady
October 15, 2023
This inside report should come as no surprise to anyone who watched Tom Brady lead a struggling Buccaneers offense that averaged 18 points per game last season.
ESPN NFL Insider and Brady Insider Jeff Darlington is at The Licht House today to cover the Buccaneers vs. Lions game for BSPN. It’s a homecoming of sorts for Darlington, who spent a lot of time in Tampa during the Brady era. Darlington is also a local and the pride of Seminole High School.
During this morning’s broadcast, Darlington told viewers that the Buccaneers’ squad was full of “confidence and high spirits.”
Darlington added that a key figure within One Buc Palace told him yesterday that the Buccaneers feel like they are a better club after Tom Brady.
“I was talking to a Buccaneers source yesterday and he told me that his favorite part about this team is that a lot of people think they’re going to be terrible without Tom Brady. They hear that all the time. statement, and they actually feel like they’re playing better now than they did last season,” Darlington said.
Joe isn’t going to play the guessing game about Darlington’s origins (that was the Buccaneers’ job when Ira Kaufman broke the news), though Joe isn’t surprised at all.
As Joe has written multiple times, Brady’s demise on the field last season (decision-making and the overall mental aspect of the game) is not something Buccaneers players will ever discuss. But the proof was on the field, where the Tampa Bay offense limped along.