Buccaneers’ Flight to North Carolina Delayed, Team Stuck on Tarmac for 5 Hours

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers headed to the airport on Saturday for a quick flight to Charlotte in order to play the Carolina Panthers. However, mechanical issues disrupted the schedule. The team sat on the tarmac for five hours waiting to take off.

According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the issues arose after the players and coaches boarded the team plane. They were unable to take off and simply sat on the tarmac. The Buccaneers ultimately were able to leave after 6 p.m. ET, but the long delay disrupted the entire travel schedule. A trip that normally takes under two hours extended to roughly seven.

“NFL piling up the excuses for when Teddy Bridgewater stomps the golden boy,” one football fan commented on Twitter after hearing about the delay. Several others joined in and said that the disruption and late arrival to the team hotel would only negatively affect Tom Brady. They joked that he needed everything to work perfectly in order to recover from the 38-3 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and that the mechanical issues would only contribute to more struggles.

Despite adding Antonio Brown to a talented offense, the Buccaneers could not gain any ground against the New Orleans Saints. Brady threw three interceptions and failed to lead a touchdown drive while Mike Evans led the team with only 64 receiving yards. Brown, on the other hand, had three catches for 31 yards.

There were several theories about why the Buccaneers struggled, many of which revolved around the Saints getting a “revenge win” for backup quarterback Jameis Winston. The former first overall pick spent the first five years of his career with the Buccaneers before becoming a free agent and signing with the Saints. Some Twitter users said that Winston was celebrating the victory over his former team, but others took a different approach. They said that Brady was heartbroken due to recent political events.

When the quarterback struggled, many people responded by saying that he was just reacting to the news that President-elect Joe Biden would replace President Donald Trump in the White House. They said that Brady was a “diehard” Trump supporter and that he couldn’t focus due to his emotional state. Although a few joked about Brady searching for ballots instead of wide receivers. The six-time Super Bowl champ previously told Howard Stern that he has known Trump since the early 2000s and has played golf with him, but he also clarified that a friendship is not the same as political support.