A Cincinnati Bengals player went after Tom Brady after the team beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Eli Apple sent a message to Brady who said the Bengals’ defense is “fairly tough” on his Let’s Go! podcast. The video shows Apple saying, “The future’s now, old man,” before entering the locker room.
Another Bengals player, B.J. Hill, sent his own message to Brady. “We’re fairly tough on defense,” Hill added, according to PEOPLE. “Remember that, alright?” The Bengals took down the Buccaneers 34-23. Tampa Bay was leading 17-0 in the second quarterback, but the Bengals’ defense took over, forcing four turnovers in the win. Brady, 45, threw two interceptions in the loss, and now has seven on the season. Of those seven picks, four have come in the last two weeks.
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“[Brady] was fairly okay, but not good enough to win,” Apple said in a video shared by Bengals reporter Olivia Ray. Apple also revealed the key to pressuring Brady. “Got to get that old man tap dancing, man,” he said, per NFL.com. “Got to get him out of the pocket and get him uncomfortable.”
After the game, Brady pointed out the Buccaneers’ mistakes. “Just unforced errors,” Brady said, per the Buccaneers’ official website. “Two fumbles, two interceptions, you can’t win football games like that. We had a good first half, we were in good position and then we literally just gave them the ball. If you give them the ball, obviously we can’t score, and they’re a good offense so they scored. They took advantage.”
Despite the loss, Brady is happy with the way the team looked in the first and second quarters of the contest. “We played good,” he continued. “I think we have the ability to play good; I don’t think that we lack confidence in playing good. It’s just consistency, and two good quarters doesn’t win you any football games. Five turnovers doesn’t win you any football games.”
The Bengals improve to 10-4 on the year and have the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoff standings. The Buccaneers fall to 6-8 on the year but are still in a good position to reach the postseason as they are in first place in the NFC South. Brady is looking to avoid missing the playoffs for the third time in his career.
