Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians believes that veteran quarterback Tom Brady will bounce back from their disappointing loss to the New Orleans Saints when they take on the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The 43-year-old Brady completed 23 of 36 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown by Janoris Jenkins. He also ran for another score in the opening drive of their 34-23 loss to the Saints in a historic game on Sunday at Louisiana Superdome. In an interview with reporters on Monday, Arians said he is convinced that Brady will bounce back from that disappointing loss.

“He’s had it before. I mean, he knows how to bounce back,” said Arians, per a tweet by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “He knew he didn’t play very well. It’s not what he expects from himself nor do we expect,” he added. Arians added he expects his starting quarterback to have “a little more grit, a little more determination this week.”

Arians says 1st interception was a miscommunication

On Sunday, Arians publicly criticized Brady as he blamed the two interceptions on the quarterback alone. However, Stroud reported that Arians clarified his earlier statement, saying the first interception was a miscommunication with wide receiver Mike Evans. Arians, after reviewing the tape, determined that Evans misread the coverage and failed it to make it to the spot where Brady threw the pass that was eventually intercepted by safety Marcus Williams.

“Mike should’ve split and gone down the middle and never stopped,” Arians said.

Without any preseason games, Brady is learning Arians’ offense on the fly, but he was excellent in practice and during training camp. But Arians said that it’s hard to say if his team was out of sync against the Saints, especially when they opened the game with an 85-yard drive that Brady ended with a 2-yard sneak for a touchdown.

“I think it’s a great learning experience,” said Arians, adding that it’s only the first game of a 16-game battle.

Brady sets another record

The Saints-Buccaneers battle made history as it featured two starting quarterbacks at age 40 above for the first time in NFL history. Brady, for his part, also set another personal record when he took over the solo No.

1 spot when it comes to the all-time number of games played for a quarterback. Before the game, Brady was tied with Hall of Famer Brett Favre in terms of the number of regular-season and playoff games played with 326 (285 regular season and 41 playoffs). When he took his first snap, Brady took over sole possession of the top spot. Brady also set the record for most touchdowns by a debuting Buccaneers quarterback with three scores. Jameis Winston (2015) and Josh McCown (2014) had two touchdowns apiece in their Buccaneers debut.
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