Bruce Arians showed early in the season that he is not going to shy away from publicly criticizing Tom Brady, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach has done it again following another tough loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Mike Evans caught just four passes for 64 yards in Tampa’s 38-3 loss, but Arians did not feel that had anything to do with Evans failing to get open. On Monday, Arians told reporters Brady missed multiple opportunities to get Evans the ball.
“Mike was open a bunch in that ballgame. He didn’t get targeted. That’s all,” Arians, said, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Mike was open.”
It’s hard to interpret that as anything other than a knock on Brady. For what it’s worth, Evans was targeted six times in the game. Perhaps Arians felt that number should have been greater.
Brady completed just 22-of-38 passes for 209 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.
Arians took a similar approach after Brady’s first regular season game with the Bucs. The coach told reporters that one of Brady’s interceptions in that loss to New Orleans was on a throw where Evans read the coverage right and Brady read it wrong. Arians also indicated Brady should have been plenty prepared for the game but failed to execute.
You might think Brady wants to be treated like everyone else and not a six-time Super Bowl champion, but his response to Arians’ Week 1 criticism was a bit icy. You can bet he’ll be asked about the coach’s latest comments this week.
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