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When Tom Brady opted to come back out of retirement for another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he likely didn’t foresee having to fight tooth and nail for a .500 record and a playoff spot.
And yet, 14 weeks into the 2022 NFL season, that’s exactly where Brady and the Bucs are. Tampa Bay sits at .500 after Brady was outdueled by somebody named Brock Purdy over the weekend.
The Bucs are currently just one game ahead of the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers for first place in the NFC South. They’re also 1.5 games behind the final Wild Card spot in the NFC. So should they drop behind either of those NFC South teams, they’re likely outside looking in.
Which makes this weekend’s matchup with the reigning AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals all the more important. Cincinnati is currently 9-4 and tied with Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North division lead. They’ve won five consecutive games and appear to be rounding into form.
Tampa, meanwhile, has lost two of its last three and finishes the season with huge divisional games against the Panthers and Falcons. A win against Cincinnati would be huge for the Bucs to create breathing room. But Brady isn’t making it easy on himself.
Tom Brady Gives Bengals Bulletin Board Material With Comment On Cincy Defense
Brady looked ahead to the game on the most recent episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast. He gave a quick breakdown of the Bengals, which included a slight dig at the Bengals’ defense.
“Great team. Great, young quarterback. Fairly tough defense. Good skill players,” he said. “They do a lot of things well. We’re going to have to put everything we’ve got into it.”
That “fairly tough” defense has morphed into one of the best in the entire NFL. They rank sixth in the league in points-per-game allowed with 20.4 and sixth in red zone efficiency.
The Bengals also did not concede a single second-half touchdown for the first seven weeks of the season,
Given the fact that Brady and company have failed to top 20 points in each of their last three games, maybe firing up one of the league’s best defenses isn’t the smartest idea.