The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hoping to shake off their worst loss of the season when they host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, but Tom Brady may have given his opponent a bit of added motivation.
Brady spoke about Tampa Bay’s upcoming game during the latest episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast. He took a page out of Bill Belichick’s book when he said the Bucs are “onto Cincinnati.” The 45-year-old then spoke about all the challenges the Bengals will present. He was not overly complimentary of their defense.
“We’re onto Cincinnati,” Brady said, as transcribed by Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports. “Great team. Great, young quarterback. Fairly tough defense. Good skill players. They do a lot of things well. We’re going to have to put everything we’ve got into it.”
It is safe to assume Brady did not intend to insult Cincinnati’s defense, especially in public. Still, the Bengals will almost certainly spend time this week focusing on how Brady only views their defense as “fairly tough.”
The Bengals rank 11th in the NFL in scoring defense. They have allowed 331.1 yards per game and 20.4 points per game. Their performance has not been otherworldly, but they definitely have an above-average defense.
Brady was downright horrendous in the Buccaneers’ 35-7 loss to San Francisco. We can expect him to be a lot better against the Bengals, but he may regret giving their defense added juice.
