Even though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers clinched their playoff berth, Tom Brady explained why he’ll be playing in Week 18.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t have anything to play in Week 18. Last week, they managed to win the NFC South title for the second year in a row by defeating the Carolina Panthers 30-24 after overcoming a 21-10 deficit. With that said, they are locked into the #4 seed in the NFC and will host a Wild Card Round game against the Dallas Cowboys or Philadelphia Eagles.
With that said, there isn’t much to play for in Week 18 for the Buccaneers. It can be used as a way for the team to rest its starter in a first round playoff game. Quarterback Tom Brady explained on his podcast why he wanted to play in Tampa Bay’s regular season finale against the Atlanta Falcons.
This quote is from FOX Sports’ Greg Auman.
Tom Brady explains why he wants to play in Week 18 against the Falcons
“I think when you say it doesn’t make sense, I understand the context, but I don’t think anything is meaningless,” Brady said. “And it’s all in the buildup to what’s next. I think you can look, well, it’s not going to matter for every position, but it’s important because you’re a professional. It matters because it’s a performance. It matters because it’s your job. It matters because it’s football season and we get paid to be players.” Football, and you know, it’s all these decisions. I’m not the head coach, so I don’t make those decisions, and obviously I’ll support whatever he wants, but, you know, I like to go out there and play. I like trying to get better. We’re 8- 8. We don’t have a solution to all of our problems. I mean, I look at it like, man, we should use every opportunity, every day of practice to get better.”
That sentiment was shared earlier in the week by coach Todd Bowles, who said he plans to play Brady and the starters.
“We can improve on a lot of things, so for the time being, we plan to play him,” Bowles said. h/t Gina Lynn from ESPN. “We’ll see how the week goes going forward, but we can get better at a lot of things we need to work on, we don’t need to stop our foot on gas.”
The Buccaneers were far from the shape they had been in the previous two seasons. They dealt with injuries across the offensive line and wide receiver room, but still managed to pull off some much-needed wins. Look no further than the team’s last-minute victories over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 9 and the New Orleans Saints in Week 13. Then, obviously, the much-needed comeback to clinch the division.
Brady played in all 16 of Tampa Bay’s games entering Week 18, recording 4,610 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while completing 66.6 percent of his passes. Brady leads the league with 477 completions and 716 assists.
So there you go, pirate lovers. Expect the starters to play in Week 18 prior to the Wild Card round game.
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