Bruce Arians Cites Tom Brady's Regression On Personal Problems

Tom Brady's former head coach has a few thoughts on his regression on the field this past season.

In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Bruce Arians said that his former Super Bowl winning quarterback's personal problems had an effect on his poor performance this past year.

Gee, you don't say?

“Tom wasn’t himself, you know, with all the things that were going on,” Arians said. “And I got to give him all the credit in the world for battling through what he went through last year for his teammates. I think the world of him but it wasn’t the real Tom Brady out there.”

This should come as no surprise to any football fan this past year.

Bruce Arians talked about Tom Brady's regression this past season. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

THE BUCS HAD MULTIPLE ISSUES THIS YEAR

Hell, we all kind of assumed something was going on when Brady was mysteriously absent for 11 days during the Bucs preseason. Some tried painting the narrative that Brady was being cocky and that he didn't need training camp because he is the best quarterback of all time.

The narratives became so far-stretched that with others even pushing conspiracy theories that he was involved in some sort of off-the-grid taping for The Masked Singer.

When Brady returned and spoke to reporters, he summed it up as, "It's all personal. You know, everyone's got different situations that they're dealing with... I'm 45 years old, man. There's a lot of shit going on."

It turns out that "shit going on," was an impending divorce with supermodel and Brady's ex-wife Giselle Bundchen.

Bruce Arians and Tom Brady won a Super Bowl together in Tampa Bay. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Brady and Giselle may have lost love between each other, but there's no love lost between Brady and Arians. Many believe that the quarterback was the reason for Arians departure after the two won a Super Bowl championship together just a year earlier.

Arians has publicly said that if Brady didn't "unretire," that he believes he would still have a head coaching job.

BRADY RETIRED FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS OFFSEASON

As far as Brady goes, the average fan has been willing to give him a pass on an subpar year. We've all been there where something goes wrong in our personal lives - especially with relationships, and you can't fully pay attention to anything else. You go home and start overanalyzing every text, every word you said, and you start wondering "What if."

Now imagine that but you're one of the most famous athletes in the entire world. You're worth a ton of money. Oh, and you have massive football players that are trying to tear your head off within 3 seconds of every snap. Football is a game of milliseconds as well as mentality - it's no surprise that Brady didn't play to the level of greatness that football fans have taken for granted throughout the years. A slight miscalculation or brain fog on the field can be what makes or breaks a team.

THE BUCS WERE ELIMINATED IN THE NFC WILD CARD

Personally, I believe the Bucs just had the perfect storm of problems.

In addition to Brady's personal dilemmas, they dealt with significant injuries and were already going into the season with two Pro Bowl offensive lineman injured and replaced by two players in Robert Hainsey and Luke Goedeke who had never started a professional game before! The Bucs, who were supposed to be heralded for their great defense, also lost their star linebacker Shaq Barrett for more than half the season.

The Bucs would end up winning the NFC South with less than a .500 record at 8-9. That tells you all you need to know about the NFC South. They would lose in the NFC Wild Card against the Dallas Cowboys, ending what would be Brady's final season.

Despite the less-than-stellar final run of his storied career, Brady still finished the season with 4,694 yards, 25 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.