Tom Brady sparked a bit of a firestorm Sunday when a cutaway showed him yelling at the Buccaneers offensive line just before the half of an eventual loss to the Steelers. It came at the end of a nine-point first half for Brady and the Bucs, and it was seemingly the culmination of a frustrating 30 minutes for the Tampa Bay offense.
The outburst raised questions about Brady’s place within the team, given his adjusted regimen at 45 years old. He isn’t practicing on Wednesdays and was out on Friday celebrating Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s wedding, missing the team’s walkthrough and arriving in Pittsburgh alone via private jet, so some are beginning to wonder if the “special treatment” of the NFL legend has started to rub his Buccaneers brethren the wrong way.
Tom Brady with some words to his offensive line. pic.twitter.com/qBqjD7vfKg
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 16, 2022
On Monday, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles fielded questions about Brady’s relationship with the team as they dropped to 3-3 on the year. Brady, for his part, threw for 243 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.
MORE: Tom Brady has subpar outing vs. diminished Steelers defense
Bowles started by dispelling the notion Brady is injured.
“Yes, as far as I know he’s totally healthy,” Bowles said. “He’s completely healthy.”
With regards to the aforementioned special treatment, Bowles was more detailed.
“He works as hard as anybody,” Bowles said. “Special treatment – there have been a few guys that have missed some meetings and some practices for some special things. It just doesn’t get publicized because they’re not him. It kind of comes with the territory. We don’t worry about it too much.”
Bowles added players miss time for exigent circumstances “a lot more than you realize.”
Things have been challenging for the Buccaneers, but they’re still atop the NFC South with the surprising Falcons at 3-3. Brady being healthy is good news, but whether he continues to go about the rest of the year the same we has to this point remains to be seen. Thus far, it hasn’t yielded the results expected in Tampa Bay.
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