Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady chewed out his offensive line in an expletive-laden tirade that was shown on television for all to see, during the Bucs 20-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While it may have appeared a bit rough, Bucs center Robert Hainsey said it’s what he and the offensive line unit want.
“Everyone can call it what they want, but I want nothing else from a quarterback than that — than the guy who’s wanting to tell us what we need to do and step up,” Hainsey said, according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “If he was just sitting over there and not get us going and not try to help us — he wouldn’t be who he is today.”
“I love that from him. I know we all love that from him. It might look weird on TV, but that’s football. That’s what you want from great teammates and great leaders, and he’s the best there is.”
Brady spoke of the tirade during his ‘Let’s Go!’ podcast with Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald on Monday:
“I don’t know if it’s motivation, but I do think that it’s a bad day when there’s more f-bombs than touchdowns. So, that was not one of my better days. But F-bombs, they used to kind of keep from showing you in those moments but now it’s kind of for the world to see. So that’s just the way it is.”
“If I don’t feel like we’re living up to the expectations and playing up to the expectations that we’re capable of, then that’s my job,” Brady said. “I’m a quarterback. I’m not expecting the right tackle to do it. I’m not expecting the running back to do it. I’m not expecting the receiver to do it. I’m expecting myself to do it. I’m the one out there speaking in the huddle, calling the plays.”
“That’s what my job is. To try to get us going and to try to rally us. And there’s a lot of ways to do it. And sometimes it’s some positive encouragement, which you do a lot.
“Sometimes it’s, you know, getting on people and trying to raise the level, the sense of urgency, and raising my voice and trying to create a different vibration for the whole offense. And that’s (ultimately) what you’re trying to do.”
“I love learning from him,” Hainsey said. “He’s got so much knowledge of the game so any time I can pick his brain and kind of figure out what he wants and how he sees things, it’s a really cool opportunity for me. I enjoy that a lot.”
The offensive line has struggled mightily this season, particularly in pass protection, and head coach Todd Bowles knows it comes down to an overall team improvement.
“We’ve got to be more detailed as coaches” he said. “We’ve got to be better execution-wise as players. It’s a group effort. If we’ve got to change some things from an offensive scheme standpoint, we’ll do that. If we have to do something from a player standpoint, we’ll take a look at that, as well. We’re trying to find the best solution, how we can get better in those areas.”
