Tom Brady vows to flip it on Instagram Which is good because Bucs’ problems start with his offense

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shaky right now. This team should be a real Super Bowl contender, but the Bucs (3-3) look just like a regular NFL team trying to smooth out the ups and downs of a long season.

The offensive line is battered, Tampa is over-reliant on its defense, and Tom Brady does look like an aging quarterback at 45 (not to mention the rumors circulating about his personal life). On Monday, Brady vowed on Instagram to film the season:

That’s good because Tampa Bay’s problems stem from Brady’s offense.

The Buccaneers lost Sunday 20-18 to the Pittsburgh Steelers led by Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky — the same Steelers who didn’t belong in the same field as the Buffalo Bills a week ago.

Looking at the Buccaneers’ season as a whole makes the loss to the Steelers a little more understandable, but also a little more harrowing. They almost allowed an Atlanta Falcons offense without Kyle Pitts to come back into Week 5 from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter. They scored just 12 points in their home loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 3 and when the offense finally surfaced in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs their defense was gutted by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. The Buccaneers have had a difficult time putting together a complete performance this season and they don’t look nearly as impressive as they have in the past two years.

“I think people living off the Super Bowl are living in a fantasy land,” head coach Todd Bowles said after the Steelers loss. It’s unclear exactly who he spoke to with that line, but there’s one side of the Buccaneers team that has struggled to consistently follow through on their ending this year, and it’s not defense.

On Monday, Bowles defended the team’s handling of Brady, who missed the team’s passage Saturday to attend the wedding of his former boss, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

The story goes on

“He works as hard as anyone else” Bowles said. “Special treatment, there were a few guys who missed some meetings and some practices for some special things. It just won’t get published because they’re not him.”

Brady may not be the type to carry an offense on his shoulders anymore, and the running game certainly isn’t helping. According to The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin, the Buccaneers are last in terms of expected points added per rushing play (-0.269). What used to be an effective part of offense has become an anchor.

Bowles still has defense at a high level, but the offense under coordinator Byron Leftwich has stalled. There’s no juice, and explosive plays have been hard to come by lately. Of course, injuries to Julio Jones and Chris Godwin didn’t help — and neither did Mike Evans’ one-game suspension for his role in a brawl with the New Orleans Saints. Despite those limitations, the Buccaneers feel stuck on offense. Godwin and Evans played the last two weeks as Tampa Bay struggled to score consistently against two of the league’s worst defenses in Atlanta and Pittsburgh. Ironically, an offensive led by Brady really struggles to generate points and constant yards.

Center Ryan Jensen, who is out for the season, certainly doesn’t help, while rookie left guard Luke Goedeke is adjusting to the NFL (to put it lightly) and running back Leonard Fournette hasn’t been able to create plays of his own. In the last five games, Fournette has averaged just 2.9 yards per carry and has had one quick touchdown in that span. The Bucs run into walls, hoping they can eventually find a gap to squeeze through.

Luckily for them, the NFC South isn’t the strongest division in the league, so they still own the inside track for hosting a playoff game in January. The Falcons (3-3) have been gruff, but they’re dealing with a roster handicapped with nearly $80 million in dead salary cap money. The Saints (2-4) are extremely injured. The Carolina Panthers (1-5) belong in the SEC.

The division is still tied with the Buccaneers this season, but their six-game performance suggests post-season changes are on the horizon for this team. Your current way of working is not a sustainable way to win.