Michael Clayton: “We Are Who He Is”
November 29th, 2020
A former Buccaneer screams about Byron Leftwich
Bucco Bruce Arians rocked the worlds of many analysts this week when he shared that the Bucs’ fortunes essentially come down to the play of No. 12.
It was a powerful quote: “Offensively, it’s just a matter of each and every week if the quarterback plays well or not,” Arians said.
Of course, football is a team game, but candid Arians was simply boiling down what he’s seen through 11 weeks to its most basic level. Outside the Bucs’ four losses, Tom Brady has been spectacular, hence the Bucs’ 7-4 record.
Former Bucs receiver and blocking icon Michael Clayton took that a step further on the WDAE airwaves and screamed his agreement with Arians while wagging a finger at those who are think those Bucs losses are on the Byron Leftwich.
“Why is it that every single time Tom Brady pitches a no-hitter throwing the deep ball, you want to blame Bryon Leftwich? Every single week when that happens,” Clayton said. “This is on The Goat. Bottom line. We are who he is! When he plays well, we’re a great team. When he stinks it up, we stink, and that’s the bottom line.”
Clayton went on to say there were several subpar throws by Brady against the Rams on Monday, not just the deep ball woes, but Clayton also remains very confident the Bucs and Brady will bounce back because of their talent level, elite athleticism and quality coaching.
Joe will remind fans again that the Bucs are 7-4. A lot has gone right and there’s no reason to believe Brady’s mini-slump is permanent. However, today’s matchup against struggling Chiefs defense is when Brady’s improvement should show up, with an assist to the adjustments by the coaches Clayton is hailing.
If the Bucs lose 37-30 to the Super Bowl champs, well, ok. But that result must mean the offense has righted itself. No excuses. And everything should be on cruise control the rest of the way after a bye week and four soft defenses to close the season.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:41 am
Signing brady was desperate and pathetic. unfortunately, just another predictable glazer pr stunt. Can’t win with a former goat with no mobility and a noodle arm.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:43 am
Guess only running the ball 4 times against the Saints was all on Brady too.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:47 am
Bringing in stone hands Jones and Fournette on passing downs after drafting a RB that supposedly specializes in catching the ball along with a veteran who made his career on being a versatile back is on Brady too.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:02 am
Brady and Leftwich got outplayed and outcoached by Goff McVey, Goff had pressure too but he played calmer, made accurate quick throws and they picked up the blitz. Brady was the one who looked more nervous, rushed the throws and played scared which is not the Tom Brady of old but I guess getting hit at 43 isn’t the same as getting hit at 28.
Bottom line is that if Brady continues to be inaccurate from the pocket and play scared of getting hit you can stick a fork in your buccaneers, it’s not like he can scramble a little bit to let a play develop, I don’t care how good the defense plays.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:12 am
Yea and M. Clayton was the goat of Bucs WR. Blame goes on coaching, how many more bad calls do you need.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:27 am
Excuses, excuses, excuses. BA & BL are the game-planners and play-designers, and our game-planning & play-designs suck, and that becomes especially obvious against strong defensive teams. Brady may get to ‘choose’ what plays he executes out of that (like some past articles have inferred), but if your game-plan and play-designs suck, that’s not much of a choice in reality.
The bottom line to me is that the Tom Brady we’re seeing this year is NOT the Tom Brady who won 6 SBs with the Pats. His ‘game’ was virtually always the same year-in and year-out: ‘death by a thousand cuts’. NOW BA & BL are apparently intent on REINVENTING THE GOAT at age 43, instead of using his tried-and-true skillset. And Brady seems to have bought into that. Well, good luck, but that approach seems dumber-than-dirt to me with the collection of talent that we’ve surrounded Tom Brady with. It may get us to the playoffs in this ‘all-in year’ … and once there, anything can happen … BUT oddsmakers won’t rush to put money on the Bucs winning the SB or even going deep in the playoffs.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:39 am
Goat is a Pakistani delicacy not a savior for bucs decades of failure
November 29th, 2020 at 10:42 am
“Struggling Chiefs defense…”???!!!
My ass…they have the #7 scoring defense in the NFL, right behind the Colts and Bears.
This myth that Joe has been peddling about the Chiefs defense is going to leave some Bucs fans shocked by what they see in the game today.
The Chiefs defense is strong, and WE ALL KNOW how well the Bucs play against strong defenses, right?!
So far they’ve lost every damn time!
November 29th, 2020 at 10:55 am
Cruise control the rest of the way after the chiefs game? Really for an offense that has no identity from week to week. Hoping for soft defenses in the playoffs are we?
November 29th, 2020 at 10:55 am
GOOD coaches put their players in situations that will lead to success.
BAD coaches put their players in situations that have already proven to fail.
There is nothing more to be said on this… its obvious
November 29th, 2020 at 10:56 am
Bucs’ record against top ten scoring defenses in 2020:
Saints (#9 scoring defense): LOSS
Bears (#6 scoring defense): LOSS
Saints (#9 scoring defense): LOSS
Rams (#2 scoring defense): LOSS
Chiefs (#7 scoring defense): TBD but you can probably guess
November 29th, 2020 at 10:59 am
Defense Rules……I just dont think much of the pictire your painting there is accurate. You are saying that the coaches are hellbent on transforming Tom Brady sorta like its against his wishes. That just sounds naive.
Tom is pretty smart when ot comes to football. He knew what kind of offense Bruce runs. He knows the weapons we had here and he probably knew he could get more downfield weapons like Gronk and AB.
Im just not buying that Brady didnt know what he was walking into. I think he wanted to come here to air the ball out and run a vertical offense. Its fun. Brady picked the Bucs for a reason and he picked us. We didnt really pick him…..It not your everyday standard FA signing.
Of course this is all just guesswork from a fans perspective. Just mine opinion. Just have a hard time believing Tom wasnt aware(or didnt care?) what kind of situation he was signing up for and what was expected…..If he wanted to play dink and dunk I can think of at least three teams he should have signed with instead……..To summarize if Tom picked the Bucs and thought he was gonna run a version of hos New England offense, well, that makes Tom Brady a idiot.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:02 am
FL boy in Dallas….How about this? How bout we put up a 50 burger on the Chiefs. Knock them down to 11. Then you can keep your top ten list in tact and the Bucs can continue beating non top 10 defenses. Sound good?
November 29th, 2020 at 11:11 am
Sounds great…until you wake up and realize putting up 50 on the Chiefs was nothing but a wild dream. Then reality sinks in and the Bucs are still the Bucs.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:30 am
Why is this so controversial? This has been the NFL’s axiom, with very few exceptions, for decades. Indeed, it’s the reason we are 7-4 and not 4-7 this season. Brady is 43 years old. He’s not the same QB today as he was even five years ago. So what? He is still one of the best in the League. Most of us agreed before the season that he didn’t need to be that great for us to win this year. Cut the picks by 2/3, play better D, secure a more consistent PK, and we would be an instant playoff team. Aren’t we traveling down that road? What am I missing?
We are trying to overcome a losing culture that is deeply imbedded in the franchise, in a year that has posed hugely difficult and unique challenges. So far, we have been successful. Let’s enjoy it.
As for today, let’s run the ball, control the clock, throw to ME and Godwin, run some more, take a few shots, and run even more. Win today and we are 8-4 headed into a much needed bye week, and the softest part of our schedule. 12-4 or 11-5 is very realistic. What’s not to like?
November 29th, 2020 at 11:40 am
Amazing how Brady plays well when he has clean jersey and not when he is roughed up. How many QBs play well when getting knocked around. When he has time Brady is fine, when he is roughed up he looks 43. Dirtey jersey not good. Clean jersey and the Bucs are competative. Pretty simple. GO BUCS!!!!
November 29th, 2020 at 11:43 am
There is no doubt bringing in the Brady bunch was a stroke of desperation. Like bringing in the fraud Arains with his prodigy son Byron. What else were the Bucs to do? In six years Licht has not been able to field a playoff team through the draft. His coaching hires have been worse. So desperation is what the Glazers do best. Another at bat for the Glazer boys, another strike out. Sell the team please. The owners are the curse.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:46 am
Shady or Vaughn on 3rd down. Don’t stop running after two minutes into the game. Throw to Brate once in a while. Secondary, make them pay.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:47 am
The biggest problem last week wasn’t Brady, it was the defense. They couldn’t get the Rams off the field. The announcer even knew when they were going to throw a slant towards Dean and every one of those were complete.
Antonio Brown was on a different page than Brady and the RBs sucked in all ways. Leftwich’s playbook was so old, that they teach it in grade school. The Bucs need to spread the field, do some receiver formations that create picks and so on.
The receivers need to get some separation and the scheme isn’t helping them.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:05 pm
This spread of weapons is money with Tom within the 20 yard line. Not to mention switching RoJo for Fournette after a 192 yard game. I thought Fournette was supposed to be a second half, fresh legs power runner receiver. BA and BL scheme is a joke.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:06 pm
*within 20 yards
November 29th, 2020 at 12:08 pm
So Clayton is saying that so long as the greatest QB that has ever lived plays lights out with this ‘no risk it, no biscuit’ crap then we good? Don’t blame Leftwich tho. He takes no blame for not adjusting or having a Plan B game plan. This take is ridiculous.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:22 pm
JimmyJack … What I also said was “And Brady seems to have bought into that.”
No I don’t think he’s naive at all. And yes I too am convinced that he knew exactly what the situation here was. BA’s attack scheme was a huge change for him, and I personally think he relished that change. Shall we say that it’s a chance to show that he’s more than the ‘game manager’ type of QB that Belicheck prefers? Well after 19 years of doing something the same way … and being hugely successful at it … I’m not sure I would’ve gone for what’s behind Door B.
Bucs have the horses AND Brady has the skillset to hang with any team. We know what works, because we’ve seen it in action against teams like the Raiders & Panthers, and also against the Packers. Our best game IMO was actually the 2nd game against the Panthers. Very BALANCED ATTACK in which we won the TOP 36 mins to 24 mins because we ran the ball very effectively AND converted 3rd & 4th downs (11-for-17) at a high rate. Brady even hit on the deep passes some … 2-for-4 in the 1st half and 1-for-3 in the 2nd half. More than that though, he was 25-for-32 in the short game (78%), with Godwin (6-for-6), Brown (7-for-8) and ME13 (6-for-11) doing most of the damage receiving. Yup, ‘death by a thousand cuts’.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
It is the scheme and the logic of BL. We aren’t throwing 40 deep bales a game, 3-5 deep shots a game aren’t the reason for winning and losing. How about signing a guy who historically throws to running back but not having a pass catching back on the roster. It’s pathetic that dare was our best pass catching option and he was cut. This coaching staff clearly had no idea how to use Brady. After 11 games he still doesn’t get the offense because they live and die by the deep ball which teams are taking away because it’s so obvious.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:10 pm
@Craig … “The biggest problem last week wasn’t Brady, it was the defense.”
I could go along with BOTH being a problem in that game Craig, but not with the defense being the biggest problem. Score was TIED 17-17 less than 3 minutes into the 2nd half. So in the last 27 minutes, our defense held the Rams to 1 TD & 1 FG, while our own offense scored 1 TD. In that timespan, our defense forced the Rams to punt 4 times, got 1 INT around midfield which our offense scored their ONLY 2nd half points on, plus our D gave up that TD & FG while forcing another missed FG.
I’d say that our D gave us an excellent chance to win that ballgame in the 2nd half, but our offense pooped the bed, especially with that INT a little inside the 2-minute remaining mark. And BTW, our defense had a 2nd INT to start the 2nd half … and set the offense up at the Rams 22 to score on that one. Our offense got a grand total of 2 yds in 3 plays and settled for a FG. Maybe my math is flaky, but me thinks that IF we’d been able to score a TD, we would’ve had 4 more pts … and our margin of loss was 3 pts. Just sayin …
November 29th, 2020 at 1:12 pm
Defense Rules thats fair. I think the statement you made I may of took out of context was “apparently BA & BL are trying to reinvent the GOAT.”…..Which basically is true…..But it hints that BA and BL should have reinvented their philosphy for Brady……Not that you ment to hint that. Just the way i took it.
BA and BL do deserve some blame. But its time to start looking at Tom himself here too. He was terrible Monday Night. It wasnt just long balls it was all balls. He was shorthopping throws all over the field. It was ugly. And now twice thus year he had the ball with a chance to win and he choked. Forgot which down is was once and that throw to Brate was bad enough to get a lesser QB benched. Tom Bradys gotta play better man. I dont care whose calling the plays. When youre struggling to throw 6 yard passes accurately its not the play design.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:24 pm
I’m thinking that if the Bucs end up 8-8 they will be fortunate. Nonn be playoffs but a bit better than last year.
November 29th, 2020 at 2:22 pm
It’s never Arians fault, remember no riskit no biscuit. Play calling is horrible. He’s a stubborn old man that’s stuck in his ways.
November 29th, 2020 at 3:16 pm
beady plays bad when he is constantly under pressure.He is constantly under preasure because the oline is banged up and.cannot block long enough for the wrs to get open down field. The OC can call.plays to get the ball.out faster and not give the opposing defense time to get home. Michael Claytons words are meaningless.Of this team had Sean Payton calling plays they would play to the strenghts of its players not force square pegs in.round holes just like.mike.and lovie smith did.by forcing cover corners to play zone.
Byron Leftwich has never been succesful calling plays on any level of football.Byron is the offensive equivalent of Mike and Lovie Smith
He is the anchor holding this team back and you can see it if your eyes are open.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:50 pm
When you have a quarterback missing open receivers, that is on the quarterback. When receivers are wide ass open, that is good coaching and playing calling. What is missing is the quarterback missing wide ass open receivers.