Why Are Tom Brady and Bruce Arians Denying There Was Confusion About the Down?

Another week, another weird public relations effort from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback and coach. On Thursday night Tom Brady went deep on fourth down and what would be the final offensive play of the game for the Bucs in a 20-19 loss to the Chicago Bears. Immediately after the play, Brady was shown holding up four fingers, indicating he thought there was another down. It was pretty clear to everyone what happened.

After the game, Bruce Arians was asked about it and said that Brady knew what down it was.

Brady then gave a non-answer about wanting to get a "chunk." It's fine if Brady was trying to be aggressive, but he's also not admitting that he lost track of the down.

This morning, Jay Williams joined the chorus of people calling B.S. on Brady and Arians, saying, "you can't run away from the video."

He's absolutely right. And quite frankly, it's weird that they won't just say he forgot it was fourth down. It doesn't change anything if they admit to a small mental lapse since, well, they already lost the game and Brady is already the guy who threw a pass that was easily broken up. Forgetting the down once in two decades doesn't change much about Brady's legacy.