Tom Brady Says Buccaneers' Attitude, Effort Has Been 'Below the Line' This Season

Earlier this week, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said "the most embarrassing part" of his team right now is the "effort level on game day" as it approaches a game against the scorching-hot Seattle Seahawks in Munich on Sunday.

"Correcting our mistakes, improving our effort—which, that’s probably the most embarrassing part of our team is our effort level on game day, and that’s something we better fix," Brady said on his Let’s Go! podcast (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk).

Brady was asked to elaborate on those comments Friday and said the following regarding the 4-5 team, which is still first in the NFC South despite the disappointing effort:

"What can we control? We can certainly control our attitude, our effort. I think everything has been below the line this year. We’re 4-5. ... I don’t think there’s any reason to be happy about anything we’ve done. Obviously, we’re not playing to our standards⁠—we’re not there from an effort standpoint, execution standpoint, emotional standpoint. We’ve got to figure it out⁠—this is a good place to do it."

Brady isn't the only one who's called for the team to put in more effort this year. Head coach Todd Bowles expressed similar sentiments to reporters after his team's 20-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 16, calling out players who may be living off the high of their Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

"We didn't take them lightly, No. 1. No. 2, I think guys that are living off the Super Bowl are living in a fantasyland, and you gotta get your hands dirty and go to work like everybody else. We've been working hard, and we gotta work harder."

Tampa Bay goes to Germany on the high of a last-minute win over the Los Angeles Rams, 16-13, after Brady found tight end Cade Otton for a touchdown.

Pro Football Hall of Famer and ex-Buc defensive lineman Warren Sapp also called out captain Devin White's effort on a play during the team's 27-22 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8. The linebacker responded to those remarks publicly.

The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in Brady's first year before going 13-4 and earning the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs in his second season. The Bucs fell 30-27 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round, but expectations were still high entering 2022 after Brady announced that he was returning.

This year has not gone well for the Bucs, though. The offense has notably struggled, with the team ranked No. 25 in scoring thus far. The running game has been particularly abysmal with just 3.0 yards per carry. Brady's yards per attempt has also dropped from 7.4 to 6.4.

Still, the Bucs find themselves atop the division by virtue of a weak year in the NFC South when everyone has just three or four wins. Even if the Bucs lose to the Seahawks, they'll still be first in the NFC South with a 4-6 record thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.

An improved effort level could help the Bucs run away with the NFC South in the back half of the season. For now, they'll take on a 6-3 Seahawks team riding a four-game win streak. Kickoff is 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday from Allianz Arena.