How impressive would it be if Brady wins the Super Bowl with the Buccaneers depleted roster? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson and Jay Busbee discuss where a Super Bowl winning run with this Bucs team would rank among Tom Brady’s accomplishments. Did Aaron Rodgers actually do more with less talent than Tom Brady this season? And could this Tamp Bay squad win a playoff game if Brady has a bad game? Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: I hesitate to say this, because I don't think there's anything else you can really add to Tom Brady's career and his accomplishments. But I think people's minds changed a lot about Tampa after Godwin went down, and it was like, OK, well, the assumption is AB is going to fill that, and they're going to be OK. And wow, what a fortuitous thing to have Antonio Brown on your roster when you lose this guy. But Antonio Brown went down, and I think people were like, oh, man, OK. He just lost two significant talents, including guys that he really trusted. You'd probably argue, other than Gronk, Godwin and AB where the guys he trusted most.
He looks good with Evans, I'll tell you that. Like, Mike Evans sure as hell looked good. And you know, Gronk is Gronk. But do you feel like Tom, in a weird way-- again, I keep going back to Tom, show something here?
JAY BUSBEE: But how many times have we seen it where he goes-- I mean, he could put you and I out there, and he would have a halfway decent chance. I mean, how many times have we seen him pull guys just out of the stands, basically, and turn them into all world receivers. He did it all the time in New England. And that's not to say that it's an automatic plug-and-play situation, but there is something about Brady, that the game slows down for him, that he's able to find those opportunities, find those targets.
Now, the question is whether those receivers are going to be able to get open, whether they are going to be able to handle their end of the deal. But yeah, I mean, Brady has an ability to elevate the level of his receiving corps like nobody else that we've ever seen.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Down the stretch when there was this conversation about Rodgers and Brady, and when you would listen to teams separate the two, a head coach said to me, literally, he goes, Aaron Rodgers got one guy. He's got Davante Adams. And he's like everybody else, you take those guys and scatter them around the league on other teams, they're just kind of spare parts guys. They're not like fantastic twos or threes or whatever, they're just guys. He basically was just like, it's clearly Rodgers, not even a question, because of how he elevates all these pieces around him.
And it was interesting. He said to me, play the free agency game. And it was pretty interesting. He said take Aaron Rodgers' top three receiver this year in terms of yardage, take the Buccaneers' top three receivers this year, and put them all in free agency. So what happens? He says there's a feeding frenzy for the Tampa guys, all of them. He said with Rodgers, you would have 31 other teams jumping in trying to sign Davante Adams if he could. He said, but then when you get to the next tier, it's like three. It's like, they might be interested in bringing in a body. You know, a guy who can be OK, fill out depth.
So I guess my question for you is, this is like kind of Tom's chance to show, hey, I can elevate all of these other guys? You know, it's not just, hey, Tom's got everything. Now he's got Mike Evans and Gronk, and he's going to have to come up with that third and fourth really valuable piece that it's going to take to beat the Rams, that it's going to take to potentially beat Green Bay or whoever moving forward. And then if you get to the Super Bowl, a good AFC offense. He has his sort of retort in the MVP conversation that, hey, I can also, just like I did in New England, continue to raise pieces. It's not the pieces, it's me. I'm the right person.
JAY BUSBEE: But I know what you're saying. In a one-to-one match-up, yes, you would probably take Tampa Bay's receivers. If it were a fantasy draft, the Tampa Bay's receivers are going to go earlier. So here's a question. Let's turn it around. If Brady has a bad game for Brady-- which obviously is better than most games-- if Brady has a bad game, can Tampa Bay still win?
CHARLES ROBINSON: No way. I just don't see it. Like, I don't-- It's really hard for me to believe that-- it's the same as Green Bay. You take Rodgers away from Green Bay, we've seen what does Green Bay look like? They lose to the Chiefs, and the offense looks horrific. I like Arians. Like, he's a good coach and everything. I just don't see you taking that guy off that roster in a playoff game against, obviously, a very good team, and seeing them having any chance to win.