Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were shut out Sunday (Dec.19) by the New Orleans Saints, 9-0. But the real story of Sunday’s loss was Tom Brady’s meltdown. From throwing the second of his two interceptions in the final period to allegedly yelling “Go f-ck yourself!” at Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and finally chucking the team’s Microsoft Surface on the bench, the 7x Super Bowl champ felt like a total loser from the opening kickoff.
“Just a tough night. Didn’t do much of anything right,” Brady said at the postgame conference. “I wish it was just one thing. It was a lot of things,” he later added. “We just didn’t play well enough. We’re not going to win scoring no points.”
The Saints have had the Bucs’ number all season, winning every one of their four meetings this year, and it was the first time a Brady-led team was held scoreless in a decade-and-a-half. In fact, Brady has thrown more interceptions against the Saints (8) than he has touchdowns (7) against them.
“Very disappointing. It’s never happened to me,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “I can’t remember the last time I was shut out, or us.” But then Arians went on to lay the blame on their special teams. “Our kickers let us down, also,” he continued. Between the offense and the kicking game, it cost us the game. The defense played good enough to win.”
Reporters asked Brady to share what exactly he said to Dennis Allen as he jogged off the field, and Brady played coy. “Ah, nothing,” he responded, “just football.” And the two actually shook hands after the game in a show of good sportsmanship.
Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson said he wasn’t even aware of that exchange because he was too busy celebrating. “On to the next,” he said. “I ain’t got time for that. I don’t know what he said. I don’t care what he said. I caught a pick. I’m in the end zone with my teammates.”
But after the game, Gardner-Johnson reached out to Microsoft with hopes of playing Secret Santa for one very frustrated Bucs quarterback. He tweeted: “Hey @Microsoft @surface , can y’all send me a new Surface Tablet? I need to give it to a friend who broke his. Thank you and Merry Christmas 😇.”
