by ‘He was good enough, but not good enough to win’: Bengals defense hits back at ‘old man’ Tom Brady after quarterback calls them ‘tough enough’… as caller flips ball FOUR times in 34-23 loss
Cincinnati’s defense had the last laugh after being disrespected ahead of a comeback win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On an episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast, Tampa QB Tom Brady made a rather dismissive and devious comment about the Bengals’ defense ahead of their game earlier on Sunday.
“Great team, great young quarterback,” Brady said before adding that Cincinnati’s defense was “pretty tough.”
The Bengals responded to Tom Brady’s slights by forcing the quarterback to fumble twice
Well, that “pretty tough” defense forced Brady to turn the ball over four times – thanks to two interceptions and two fumbles – which allowed QB Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ offense to come back big for 34 -23.
After starting 17-0, the Bengals scored an unanswered 34 points to seal a win over Tampa Bay.
Three of those turnovers resulted in touchdowns — the fourth ending in a punt — and they all came on four consecutive second-half drives.
The Bengals had two interceptions in addition to fumbles for a night of four turnovers
The Bengals used those comments as a chip on their shoulders to motivate them to come back to this game – with CB Eli Apple and DL BJ Hill repeating the comments.
As they walked off the pitch, Apple was heard shouting, “Hey the future is now old man”, and Hill said to the camera “Hey, we’re pretty tough on defense – remember that.”
“We gotta keep this old man tap dancing, man,” Apple told reporters after the game. When a reporter said Brady was “pretty good” in the first half, Apple replied, “He was doing pretty well, but not good enough to win.”
Hill had similar points to make, telling reporters they didn’t need to find motivation. “We just knew we were a pretty tough defense, I mean that’s how we played in the first half, I’m not going to lie to you, but we just came out in the second half and got played our cues.”
CB Eli Apple (center) was at least one member of the Bengals defense reveling in victory
On the offensive end of the ball, Cincinnati grabbed just 237 yards, but they spent most of the second half in Tampa Bay’s half of the field.
This couldn’t be more evident than in the final lines of the Bengals’ offensive stats. Burrow completed 70% of his passes for four touchdowns and an interception, but could only get 200 yards on the short field.
Cincinnati will take their 10-4 record on the road to face New England on Christmas Eve next week.
