I'm as down on the team as anyone...I've never been convinced by Flores and it seems like everyone else is on that bandwagon right now. The offense has been garbage under Brissett and the co-offensive coordinators have worked as well as expected (not worked). And the defense has played like the defense actually has always played versus QB's without glaring flaws, which is not anywhere close to shutdown level. So it would seem like we've got no shot against the defending champions, right?
Wrong.
This Bucs team we are facing is far from the team they were last year at the moment. And it should be noted that, as good as they played in the playoffs, they weren't division winners last year. But right now, they are really, really hurting, and on top of that they are coming off a very emotional and very hotly contested victory on the road against New England. Their entire secondary depth chart is almost out. There are gonna be practice squad players or street free agents. Gronk should be out, and while he's not the physical player he was years ago, he basically is some of the glue that holds everything together. Brady is extremely reliant on him in key situations, especially the red zone, and Brady still doesn't have that superb chemistry with the other receivers that you might think he would. Gio should be out, and while they've got two talented backs in Fournette and Jones, Fournette is inconsistent as hell and blows a ton of plays, while Ronald Jones is treated by Arians about as well as Lamar Miller was treated by Philbin. But the one thing we're forgetting is....
Tom Brady. Yeah, the GOAT. We have gotten some epic blowouts from him for sure. And we have also inexplicably beaten him an extraordinary number of times with a variety of teams that had no business doing so. This team here is in a rut and the offensive coaching sucks, but overall we're definitely not really worse than some of the other teams we've beat Brady with. And this isn't just the Dolphins v. Brady...Flores used to be his assistant HC. He knows the guy as well. We beat him once with Flores. Yeah, Bellichek facing him didn't result in a win, but in a game with a rookie QB making his 4th start, Brady wasn't the most productive passer of the day. And if BB hadn't lost his nerve in going for 4th and 3, NE more likely than not wins that game.
1-4 is not a given. I'll still be watching on Sunday, expecting that it will either be a 40-10 blowout, or that we go toe to toe with Brady and maybe dial up those one or two plays we've always seemed to make against him to come out on top.
