No one has to worry about Bruce Arians hurting Tom Brady’s feelings this week.
If anything, he might be being generous.
Last week, Arians was openly critical of Brady’s play in the opener. After Brady bounced back to beat the Panthers, Arians said he was impressed.
“I think he has a pretty good history of that,” Arians said of following up on a loss, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “This game should never have got as close as it did. We let ‘em back in. But I thought he played outstanding. His leadership on the sideline was great, and he put us in the right play [on] a number of different audibles. He played really, really well.”
Statistically, it was so-so, as he was 23-of-35 for 217 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. But he wasn’t helped by drops from his receivers (including one which clunked off Cyril Grayson’s helmet).
But Arians was willing to look at the broad strokes, namely Brady’s 49-13 record in games after a loss the previous week.
“It’s going to take time, and with having no preseason and all those practices we missed, we’re just growing day by day with Tom, the receivers and the entire offense,” Arians said. “I think we’ll just get better and better. We’re nowhere near — I think — what we are in September, what I think we’ll be in November.”
They clearly have things to work on, which is fine with both Arians and Brady, but it was better than his two-pick debut.