Tom Brady and Bruce Arians have not been on the same page at times throughout the 2020 season, yet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 10-5 and clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 13 years. Brady has had an up-and-down season, but he's playing his best football of the year over the last three weeks.
Overall, Brady has been good enough to get Tampa Bay into the postseason -- and is playing well enough for the Buccaneers to go on a potential postseason run. He's exceeded the expectations placed by head coach Bruce Arians from the start of the year.
"Totally exceeded," Arians said to reporters Friday. "With having such a limited practice, we went to New Orleans [in Week 1] still learning words. When the quarterback calls a play, he should have a picture in his head. I don't think that happened until November – just continuing to learn what words meant and what concepts meant, and then adjusting concepts as we went along.
"A guy might have a three or four-way go on a route [but now] we eliminated it to two. Things like that as we just kept evolving. I think right now when he calls a play, the picture is in his head and he's really, really playing well. He's exceeded it. His leadership is beyond anything I've ever seen. Peyton Manning is the only thing close."
Brady has completed 65.9% of his passes for 4,234 yards with 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions (101 passer rating). The 36 touchdown passes are the most Brady has had in a season since 2015 and the 101 passer rating is his highest since 2017. Over his last three games, Brady has completed 71.6% of his passes for 934 yards with 10 touchdowns and no interceptions (137.8 rating).
The Buccaneers offense has been clicking since Week 10. Tampa Bay is second in the NFL in points per game (33), yards per game (419.8), and pass yards per game (320.5) over its last six games, showcasing how lethal Brady and this offense can be in the postseason.
"He's another coach on the field talking to Gronk (Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski) about how he's running his routes [and] talking to Scotty [Miller] how he's running his routes," Arians said. "[Talking to] anybody about where [he] expects to see you [and] protections with the offensive lineman.
"It's a never-ending thing with him – the perfectionist – to get everything right in practice. Also, his calmness on the sideline in games when we're not winning, [saying], 'We're going to win.' Those type of things. You put those in a bottle and you make a bunch of money."
