Thursday night was not Tom Brady’s greatest performance by any means.
The most memorable thing from the game was the quarterback not realizing it was fourth down on Tampa Bay’s final drive when the Bucs turned the ball over on downs.
But, it may not have been just Brady.
Former Patriots cornerback Darius Butler pointed out on Twitter that the routes were not ran like a fourth down call, so perhaps the coaching staff didn’t realize it as well.
Regardless, it was a reminder of how different things are for Brady without Bill Belichick as his head coach.
That play aside, there are other things occurring with the Bucs through the first five games that Brady isn’t used to.
Against the Bears Thursday, Tampa Bay was up 13-0 and Brady had won 42 consecutive starts dating back to 2015 when his team had led by 13 points or more -- the longest active streak for an NFL quarterback.
That came to and end in the 20-19 loss, and it is hard to imagine a Belichick-coached team losing a game like that.
But the biggest thing is how undisciplined the Buccaneers are, which falls on head coach Bruce Arians.
The Patriots are always one of the fewest penalized teams in the league, but that is the opposite now for Brady in Tampa Bay. Against the Bears Thursday, it committed 11 penalties for 109 yards.
Even though the Buccaneers have played one more game than the rest of the league, they lead the NFL in number of penalties by a wide margin. They have committed 42 on the year — seven more than Chicago and 10 more than the Jets.
Brady is used to being on one the most disciplined teams in football and based on his sideline outburst during the game Thursday, he does not stand for what’s taking place.
While everyone was raving about the perfect match Brady and Arians would be, there certainly are elements of Arians’ coaching that do not line up with what Brady is used to and are showing up on a weekly basis.
