“We Can’t Dress It Up”: NFL Hall of Famer Blames Tom Brady for Disappointing Campaign

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost three of their last four regular season fixtures. And if they were not in the NFC South Division, Brady’s playoff chances would have been pretty slim right about now. And Sunday’s loss made some NFL experts lash out at TB12 for his average display on-field in the 34-23 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Three time Super Bowl champion and former Broncos and Ravens tight end, Shannon Sharpe puts a hundred percent of the blame for the Buccaneers’ misery on their 45-year-old quarterback Tom Brady. And normally, Shannon’s co-host Skip, an ardent Brady fan, tries to prove Shannon wrong. However, after the loss against the Bengals, even Skip didn’t have a lot to say.

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On a recent episode of the Skip and Shannon: UNDISPUTED, Sharpe reiterated his sentiments from previous weeks where he has consistently believed that it’s over for Tom Brady. The seven time Super Bowl champion’s costly turnovers are the reason for the loss, according to Sharpe. “Brady has played bad this season. And it’s getting progressively worse. There’s no way around it. We can’t dress it up,” Shannon said. Sharpe brought up TB12’s somewhat arrogant remarks after a close 17-16 comeback win against the Raiders. “Just how we drew it up? Is that how you drew it up?”

Shannon thinks Tom Brady is more concerned with his personal numbers than the Bucs’ record

From the outside, it doesn’t look like five time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady had a bad night on Sunday. Against Joe Burrow‘s Cincinnati Bengals, Brady threw 3 touchdown passes over 312 yards and completed 30 out of his 44 targets. However, on closer inspection, Brady also had four crucial turnovers in the game; 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles. And Shannon thinks, that is way too many opportunities for a supremely talented Bengals offense to script the comeback.

And even when the Bucs were down 34-17 towards the end of the game, instead of putting the backup QB in, Tom Brady played on and recorded his 3rd TD. A longer look at the statistics will reveal the bigger problem in Tampa Bay this year. And that has been the entire offensive unit. With a rush offense that ranks last in the league, Brady and Co. are hugely dependent on the wideouts. Tampa Bay ranks first in the league in passing play percentage (67.4%). And WRs Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Julio Jones have just not been at their levels. Brady has almost 4000 passing yards this season but only 20 touchdowns to go with it. WR Russell Gage turned up and got 2 TDs from Brady on Sunday.

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Shannon may have been a little too harsh on Tampa Tom Brady. The Buccaneers are still in the race for the Super Bowl despite sporting a 6-8 record. When it comes to the post-season, the NFL world can never really discount Tom Brady and his brilliance. Next up, the Arizona Cardinals.