Arians follows Brady critique with similar jab at Gronk originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Bruce Arians wasn't kidding about being an equal opportunity critic.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach recently raised a few eyebrows by offering a blunt assessment of Tom Brady's poor play against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, then doubling down Monday with more critical comments of the former New England Patriots quarterback.
On Wednesday, it was Rob Gronkowski's turn to get the Arians treatment. Here's what Arians thought of the Bucs tight end's performance in Tampa Bay's 34-23 loss to the Saints, per NFL Media's Mike Giardi:
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"I thought he played fine. There was some time he was matched up against (Saints defensive end) Cam Jordan... We would have liked to have seen a little more push but we'll take a stalemate."
NBC Sports
The man calls it like he sees it.
That's not exactly a dress-down of Gronkowski, but considering the ex-Patriots tight end is one of the greatest ever at his position thanks in part to his blocking prowess, "stalemate" probably wasn't the feedback Gronk was looking for.
It's also rare to see Brady and Gronk take such public, pointed criticism: While there are legendary tales of Bill Belichick ripping Brady a new one in film sessions, the Patriots head coach often discusses his players in generalities when addressing the media and hardly ever singles anyone out.
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This isn't anything new from Arians, though -- he said last month that Brady "gets cussed out like everybody else" -- and the Bucs head coach insists his new player(s) can take the heat.
"Tom and I are fine," Arians told reporters Wednesday, per Giardi. "I don't care what other people think. It's just what he and I think."
