Brady feels sting of latest loss as Bucs fall to 3-5

TAMPA, Fla. -- Still dressed successful afloat uniform, adjacent aft respective of his teammates had already departed for the night, Tampa Bay Buccaneers backmost Tom Brady stared dejectedly astatine the level of his locker Thursday nighttime astatine Raymond James Stadium.

With his arms folded and his look flushed, Brady inactive precise overmuch wore the sting of the Bucs' 27-16 nonaccomplishment to the Baltimore Ravens -- their 5th nonaccomplishment successful the past six games -- which dropped him to 3-5 arsenic a starter for the archetypal clip successful his storied 23-year NFL career.

Backup Blaine Gabbert sat adjacent to him, offering words of comfort, portion chap backmost Ryan Griffin and quarterbacks manager Clyde Christensen took turns patting him connected the back.

"I cognize he's truly hard connected himself," close tackle Tristan Wirfs said crossed from Brady's locker, 30 feet away. "We're each truly hard connected ourselves. We're gonna bash our champion to get this happening fixed cuz this ain't a amusive feeling close now."

"Nobody's pointing the digit astatine Tom Brady," wide receiver Mike Evans said. "It's a full team. A squad game. The eventual squad game. It's not conscionable 1 player. It ne'er has been."

Moments later, Brady took the podium.

"I don't deliberation you tin erase what happened the past 8 weeks," helium said. "We've gotta excavation deep, spot what we're each about, travel to work, effort to amended and springiness ourselves a amended accidental to win."

At 45 and successful the past twelvemonth of his declaration with the Buccaneers, this could beryllium his past NFL season, having already retired erstwhile for 40 days this offseason. It's a world his teammates are each precise overmuch alert of, making the Bucs' rash of losses successful 2022 devastating.

"I anticipation helium plays arsenic agelong arsenic helium can," Wirfs said. "I'd emotion to play with him forever. I emotion Tom. I privation everything was going arsenic cleanable arsenic imaginable for him, if it is the past twelvemonth for him, oregon whatever. We're conscionable trying to ball, and it's frustrating erstwhile stuff's not moving and you don't person the reply successful beforehand of you."

Evans added, "He's the champion to ever bash it. I mean, helium hates losing. That's each helium knows is winning and being 3-5 is not bully enough, truthful we've gotta crook it astir and soon."

They've been incapable to enactment points connected the committee each season. They managed to people connected a 1-yard touchdown tally connected the opening thrust -- their archetypal opening-drive TD each twelvemonth -- and grabbed a 10-3 pb successful the archetypal quarter. But they wouldn't find the extremity portion again until 53 seconds near successful regulation, erstwhile Brady recovered Julio Jones connected an 8-yard strike. It was the pair's archetypal touchdown of the season, with Jones, who was expected to play a large relation successful their offense, missing the past 3 games with a genu injury.

Defensively, things unraveled successful the 2nd fractional aft apical extracurricular linebacker Shaq Barrett near the crippled with an Achilles injury, which sources told ESPN the squad fears volition extremity his season. The Bucs surrendered 3 touchdowns aft that, and the discourtesy couldn't support pace.

"It's decidedly tough," linebacker Lavonte David said of losing games with Brady. "Just the things he'd 1 implicit his career. The benignant of feline helium is, the benignant of antheral helium is, the benignant of shot player, the benignant of person helium is - decidedly hard. He's feeling each the aforesaid emotions we feel. We decidedly gotta effort to crook this happening astir due to the fact that we've got the guys to bash it. But it's gotta travel from somewhere."

The Bucs volition person a agelong play to regroup and manager Todd Bowles said the squad would mull imaginable changes.

"We are going to speech astir everything this weekend," Bowles said. "When you are not playing well, everything is connected the array for us, and we volition sermon it arsenic a staff."