After suffering two straight losses before their bye week, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has been on fire as he carried the team to five straight wins. In his last four regular season games, Brady averaged more than 300 passing yards and threw a total of 12 touchdown passes with just one interception. In their win over the Atlanta Falcons on the road, Brady threw for 390 yards and two scores. Brady followed it up with 348 passing yards and four touchdown passes in their victory over the helpless Detroit Lions and capped his regular-season campaign with 399 passing yards and four touchdowns with an interception in their home win over the Falcons.
In their 31-23 win over the Washington Football Team in the Wild Card Game, Brady threw for 381 yards and two scoring strikes to carry the Buccaneers to a Divisional Round clash against the New Orleans Saints.
The Buccaneers were swept by the Saints in their two divisional showdowns in Week 1 (34-23) and in Week 9 (38-3), but they are playing on a different level with Brady finally clicking with his receivers and tight ends. Brady’s excellent performance in the past five games drew the attention of Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins, who spoke about it when he faced the media during his Thursday’s press conference. “When you take, watch all the other games outside of the breakdown, you take our games out of it, they're putting up close to 400 yards of passing, almost every week.” said Jenkins, per a transcript of his interview posted on the Saints’ official website.
Gronkowski, Brown move involved in offense
According to Jenkins, tight end Rob Gronkowski and veteran wide receiver Antonio Brown have gotten more involved with the offense while young wideouts Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are steady. Aside from their vast array of targets, Jenkins said the Buccaneers have been successful in mixing in the runs behind Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette, who stepped up in their win over the Washington Football Team.
However, Jenkins said the Buccaneers beat their opponent with their passing game. “And Tom's (Brady) been clean, you keep him upright, you keep him in the pocket, he's the greatest to ever do it,” Jenkins stressed, adding that the Saints must disrupt the veteran quarterback by getting some hits on him.
Jones returns to practice
The Buccaneers received some good news on Thursday as Jones joined practice on a limited capacity, per Carmen Vitali of Buccaneers.com. Jones was a late scratch in their game against Washington due to a calf injury, in addition to a surgically repaired finger. Also limited during Thursday’s practice were cornerback Carlton Davis (groin), Evans (knee) and Godwin (hip/quad). For the Saints, quarterback Taysom Hill, who has been used in various roles by coach Sean Payton, offense, missed his second straight day of practice.