Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Get used to Tom Brady throwing interceptions

Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans should get used to Tom Brady interceptions.

If you’re a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, you’re not going to like what is about to be discussed. Tom Brady‘s two-interception performance in Week 1 is not just an anomaly, it is something that you should expect to see more often than not throughout the season.

Interceptions are just part of getting used to Bruce Arians’ aggressive passing offense. When looking back at his career as an offensive play-caller, you can clearly see this is the case.

Bruce Arians was first the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns from 2001-03, where Tim Couch was primarily his quarterback over that span of time. Couch would go on to start 38 games for Arians in Cleveland and threw 45 interceptions across those 38 games. Of those picks, 21 came in his first year within the offense.

Now, Brady clearly is a better quarterback than Couch. But this isn’t a one-time thing for Arians.

Bruce Arians alone means more interceptions for Tom Brady with the Bucs.

From 2007-11, Arians was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator. During his time in Pittsburgh, Ben Roethlisberger started 73 games. Roethlisberger threw 57 interceptions in those games (an average of roughly 12.5 per 16 games), 11 of which came in Big Ben’s first season with Arians as his offensive coordinator. These totals aren’t nearly as bad as Couch’s numbers but they’re interesting nonetheless.

Arians’ next stop was a one-year stint in Indianapolis where he got to work with Andrew Luck during his rookie year. Learning this complex of an offense would’ve been hard for any rookie but Luck mastered it pretty well. However, Luck still threw his career-high number of interceptions in his rookie year, throwing 18 in 16 starts for Arians.

Next up on the list of talented quarterbacks Arians got to work with is Carson Palmer. Arians was Palmer’s head coach in Arizona from 2013-17 and the pair saw a good amount of success together. However, Palmer still threw an alarming number of interceptions underneath Arians, throwing 57 in 60 games for the Cardinals, 22 in his first season in the offense.

Finally, we reach Jameis Winston, who Bruce Arians had as his starting quarterback last season with the Buccaneers. Winston had his infamous 30-interception season in his sole season working with Arians and is now the backup on the New Orleans Saints.

The whole point of these numbers is to show how complex Bruce Arians’ offense is. Interceptions are very common, no matter who his quarterback is, especially in their first year leading his offense. When combining all of these quarterback’s interception stats within Arians’ offense, you get around an interception per game.

Arians’ offense works and will work for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 NFL season. Brady is going to do just fine in the offense, and the team is going to put up some great numbers. However, Brady is going to throw an abnormal amount of interceptions this season compared to what he’s used to — and fans need to get ready for that.