National Football League

Tom Brady's Bucs are 3-5. How much responsibility falls on the QB?

Updated Oct. 28, 2022 2:13 p.m. ET

Tom Brady and the Buccaneers continue to reel.

Tampa Bay's Thursday night loss to the Baltimore Ravens was its third in a row and dropped the club to 3-5. It's the first time that Brady has lost three consecutive games since 2002. Furthermore, this is the first season in which Brady has been two games below .500 as a starter.

On Friday's edition of "Undisputed," cohost Shannon Sharpe asserted that Brady looks more visibly frustrated than ever and that it's impacting the Buccaneers' play.

"You see as the game starts to go, he gets more and more frustrated," Sharpe said. "He's starting to morph into that path with Aaron Rodgers. Everything is, ‘What are we doing?’ He's exasperated. He's so frustrated because he's never been in a situation like this in over 20 years, where seemingly nothing goes right. But Skip, Tom is not playing well."

Sharpe later said that Brady is 70% responsible for the Buccaneers' loss to the Ravens, making the case that the quarterback isn't elevating those around him like he once did.

"Tom Brady is not playing the same," Sharpe said. "He is not the same quarterback."

Brady finished Thursday night with 325 passing yards, one passing touchdown, zero interceptions and an 89.7 quarterback rating while completing 26 of 44 passes (59.1%). On the season, he has totaled 2,267 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, one interception and a 92.4 quarterback rating, completing 65.9% of his passes. The biggest discrepancy from his first two seasons in Tampa, aside from the team's record, is in his 6.7 yards per attempt — his second-lowest mark of the past 20 years.

Skip Bayless argued that the pieces around Brady are deteriorating.

"The Buccaneers are now a bad football team, decimated by key injuries," Bayless said. "A team that has lost its confidence on both sides of the ball and lost its way on both sides of the football. What was the trademark, what was the calling card of the Super Bowl-winning Buccaneers in the pandemic year that Tom Brady turned them completely around? The calling card was: ‘We stop the run. Nobody runs on the Buccaneers. Nobody!' What has happened in the last two games? The Carolina freakin' Panthers ran 'em off the field.

"And last night, to your point, they gave up 231 rush yards. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, can they run a lick? No, they are dead-last in running the football."

The Buccaneers, in fact, are last in the NFL in rushing yards (61.9 yards per game), as both of their top two running backs (Leonard Fournette and Rachaad White) are averaging less than 3.5 yards per carry. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers defense is surrendering 132.4 rushing yards (23rd) per game.

Defensive backs Antoine Winfield Jr. (concussion), Carlton Davis (hip) and Sean Murphy-Bunting (quad), guard Luke Goedeke (foot), tight end Cameron Brate (neck) and wide receiver Russell Gage (hamstring) are among the Buccaneers players who missed Thursday night with an injury.

Bayless contended that Brady couldn't win with this team at any point in his career.

"Twenty-five-year-old Tom Brady could not rise above this football team," Bayless said. "He would have no chance because the only kind of quarterback that would have a prayer with a team that's playing like this is a scrambling, rambling, gambling quarterback who would take a lot of changes. Maybe make a play or two here or there. That is the anthesis of who Tom Brady was at 25 and what he is at 45."

Despite their 3-5 mark, the Bucs are just a half-game behind the Atlanta Falcons, whom they beat in Week 5, for first place in the NFC South. Tampa Bay hosts the Los Angeles Rams (3-3) in Week 9.