If you are a New England Patriots fan, you may be panicking right about now. Tom Brady is off to his worst start to a season in 20 years. What’s going on? Is this just a fluke or is Brady starting to show his age? Some people are saying that he should retire while he’s still on top. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks, but for now, Patriots fans have plenty of reason to be worried.
Tom Brady is a name that is synonymous with success in the NFL. Throughout his career, Brady has set numerous records and hugely impacted the game of football. His accomplishments have made him a legend and an icon in sports history.
For this reason, when he returned from retirement after forty days to play in 2022 with the Buccaneers, great expectations were generated, and it was expected that this would be another historic season for the player.
But at the end of Week 7, he has a losing record of 3-4, one of the worst in his history.
In fact, only once did he have a losing record during the first eight weeks in the 22 seasons before this one. It was 20 years ago in 2002, his first season as a starter and the only one in which he didn’t make the postseason after being healthy all year.
The 2002 Patriots began the season with a 3-4 record, with wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, and Kansas City Chiefs in the first three weeks and losses to the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, and, after the bye week, Denver Broncos.
At the end of the 2002 season, the Patriots finished with a positive record of 9-7 but did not reach the postseason because the Indianapolis Colts, with 10-6, and the Cleveland Browns, with 9-7, occupied the wild card positions.
The reasons behind the poor performance.
Why Tom Brady is off to his worst start?
Many rumors have surfaced about why the Bucs underperformed.
According to NFL Data Analyst Harrison P. Kent IV, it is due to the privileges enjoyed by Brady.
In a tweet, Kent mentions: “Tom Brady skipped training camp, takes every Wednesday off, stayed out late this past Friday in New York City to party, and flew to Pittsburgh without his teammates before today’s game, yet he has the audacity to chastise his offensive line on national television. What a loser”.
Some media have come out to defend Brady and mentioned that the offensive line is young and has not understood Brady’s strategies. However, their short training in the preseason and the fact that Brady is not in every practice aggravates the situation.
In addition to player privileges, there are personal problems with Gisele Bündchen, who is confirmed to be divorcing.
Tampa Bay Head Coach Todd Bowles also came to Brady’s defense and tried to make light of the fact that there are no privileges on the team.
“He works as hard as anybody. Some guys have had special treatment who have missed some meetings and some practices for special things that just don’t get advertised because they’re not him; there’s no preference,” Bowles said, adding, “I think when you play in the league for a certain amount of time you don’t need to train all the time. The veterans will practice, but they won’t do it all the time. They’ll have days off occasionally because it’s a long season.”
What the season looks like for Brady and the Buccaneers?
The Buccaneers remain leaders of the NFC South, and the rest of the calendar looks accessible if Brady manages to get along with his teammates and deploy the correct strategies.
The hardest part will be toward the end of the year; they’ll travel to Cleveland, play the Saints at MNF in Week 13, then fly to San Francisco and host the Bengals at home in Week 15.
Three games will be against the Cardinals on Christmas, the Panthers on New Year’s, and the Falcons in the last week of the regular season.
Prop Bets Odds
If you feel like betting on something different, you can try one of the prop bets on Brady’s future. In this case, about who will be his next girlfriend.
These are the odds found in most sportsbooks.
Alessandra Ambrosio +800
Kendall Jenner +1000
Lindsey Vonn +1000
Candice Swanepoel +1000
Taylor Swift +1200
Kim Kardashian +1600
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