The Bengals’ defense kept torching Tom Brady even after the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game.
Moments after the Bengals sealed their tenth win of the season with a comeback victory against Brady’s Buccaneers, Cincinnati defenders Eli Apple and B.J. Hill appeared to shade Tampa Bay’s quarterback over his pregame remarks, during which he called the Bengals’ defense “fairly tough.”
“Future’s now old man,” Apple said as he jogged into the tunnel at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, in keeping with video captured by The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., while Hill remarked, “We’re fairly tough on defense, do not forget that, alright?”
Leading as much as the Week 15 showdown against the Bengals, Brady spoke in regards to the Buccaneers’ upcoming opponent on his SiriusXM podcast, “Let’s Go!”
“Great team. Great young quarterback, fairly tough defense. Good skill players. They do quite a lot of things well. We’re going to must put every little thing we’ve got into it,” Brady said last week.
Although Brady and the Buccaneers grabbed control of the sport early, leading the Bengals 17-3 in the primary half, Cincinnati stormed back to win, 34-23.
Apple, a seven-year veteran, remarked within the locker room postgame how Brady “was fairly okay, but not ok to win,” per Olivia Ray of NBC’s Cincinnati affiliate, WLWT.
Defensive tackle Hill also quipped that the Bengals’ “fairly tough defense got here in and played our butts off within the second half.”
Brady, whose Buccaneers dropped to 6-8 on the season after Sunday’s loss, had a nightmarish outing, throwing two interceptions and fumbling the ball twice.
Though still atop the NFC South standings, the Buccaneers could face choppy waters to shut out the regular season as they’ve two divisional games against the Panthers and Falcons looming.
Within the meantime, Tampa Bay is gearing as much as face the Cardinals in Arizona on Christmas Day next Sunday.
