Bruce Arians had a happy 69th birthday, thanks to a Bucs 19-17 win over the Patriots. It wasn’t pretty, but Tom Brady’s drive to set up Ryan Succop’s 48-yard field goal, followed by a missed 56-yard attempt by Nick Folk sealed it. The Bucs are 3-1 heading into Week 5.

Still, Arians wasn’t happy about the media/fan perception that it was just one player against one coach on Sunday night. In a game marketed as the return of Tom Brady to Foxborough in a battle against Bill Belichick, Arians lamented the individualization of sports. Football is a team game, and the Bucs won in a group effort. 

“I was very, very frustrated with everybody saying this was a quarterback and a coach,” Arians said. “This is a team sport. The Bucs won this game. We beat the Patriots. We are losing sight that this is a team game. Everybody wanted to make this all about Brady and Belichick. I don’t think Bill played a snap. He had 22 guys out there playing their ass off, and I knew he would. We had 22 guys out there playing their asses off. One of them just happened to be named Brady.”

Brady was asked a myriad of questions about playing his old team after the game. While he said there were some emotional moments, he tried to steer it back to being happy that the Bucs won as much as he could.

“Just very grateful for an amazing time here,” Brady said. “ Like I said, my football journey took me somewhere else, but I’m really enjoying that. Great to get a win. 3-1, I know to make it about the game, but 3-1 against a really good football team tonight is what we wanted to get done.”