Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has tipped his cap to the Saints after they shutout Tampa's high-octane offense on Sunday night.
The future of Hall of Famer addressed the Saints' impressive performance, which resulted in just his third career shutout and first since 2006, during a podcast appearance on Monday, according to NOLA.com.
In fact, it was just the latest strong outing against Brady for the Saints, who improved to 4-0 in the regular season against the former longtime Patriot since he signed with Tampa Bay prior to last season.
On Monday, the Saints' defense harassed the 44-year-old signal-caller for much of the night, limiting him to 26 completions on 46 attempts for 214 yards and one interception. He was sacked four times, pressured and hurried countless others.
"Yeah, they’re called the Saints," Brady said. "I don’t think they’re very saintly. A Saint would have probably let us score once or twice yesterday. So gotta rethink that nickname."
He also acknowledged that the black and gold have been a thorn in his side and generally a well-run organization for a long time.
"You know, they’ve done well against me," Brady said. "They’ve done well against everybody. They’ve got a lot of good players. They’re really well coached. They’re a terrific defense and they play us really well."
Asked about a seemingly testy and profane exchange with Saints assistant Ryan Nielsen, Brady indicated it was an "emotional" game between division rivals.
“Oh, we were just exchanging pleasantries," Brady said. "It was a nice night in Tampa. We were just wonderfully, in the heat of the moment, expressing, uh, I wouldn’t say pleasantries, but we were very competitive in that moment, it was emotional. So that’s just football players being football players.”
It was a tough night for Brady, who was visibly frustrated with his offense stalled. The seven-time Super Bowl champion was seen feuding with referees on at least a couple occasions, and later smashed a Microsoft tablet on the Buccaneers bench.
The Bucs, as would any team, clearly felt the absence of their top three wide receivers, with top targets Chris Godwin and Mike Evans lost in-game due to injury, and Antonio Brown already ruled out while serving the last of a three-game suspension.
The Saints host the Dolphins in Week 15, while the Buccaneers face the Panthers in Charlotte.
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