For basically his entire career with the New England Patriots, Tom Brady didn’t need to worry about his head coach publicly calling him out for in-game mistakes. Bill Belichick would usually resort to a generic “we didn’t make plays” answer after losses and handle the individual details behind closed doors.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t operate that way.
Arians caused a bit of a stir after the Bucs’ Week 1 loss to the Saints when he threw Brady under the bus for his two interceptions. It wasn’t until the next day when Arians walked back on his blame and said that Brady’s first interception was on wide receiver Mike Evans.
Interceptions Thrown Today
Tom Brady: 1
Cam Newton: 0Just throwing it out there pic.twitter.com/7f551aDCVZ
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) September 13, 2020
Well, Evans accepted that blame on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since that loss, Evans said that he misread the defense as Cover 2 and cut his route short when he should have continued running.
Mike Evans: “The first pick was definitely my fault.“ Defense was in quarters and he thought it was Cover-2. “I was trying to bend in there — I was supposed to keep running. He was trying to give me the ball to make a play.” #Bucs pic.twitter.com/SxwvjGRCQ2
— Grace Remington (@GraceRemiWTSP) September 17, 2020
“The first pick was definitely my fault,” Evans said.
In all, Brady had an up-and-down debut with the Bucs. He passed for two touchdowns and completed 64 percent of his pass attempts. But the loss and those two interceptions certainly brought on some criticism.
Tampa Bay will face the Panthers in Week 2 as Brady makes his home debut.
