“Old Man”: Bengals Bash Tom Brady After Comeback Win Over Buccaneers

The Bengals’ defense kept torching Tom Brady even after the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game.

Moments after the Bengals sealed their 10th 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, in 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, according to video captured by The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., while Hill remarked, “We’re fairly tough on defense, remember that, alright?”

Leading up to the Week 15 showdown against the Bengals, Brady spoke about the Buccaneers’ upcoming opponent on his SiriusXM podcast, “Let’s Go!”

“Great team. Great young quarterback, fairly tough defense. Good skill players. They do a lot of things well. We’re going to have to put everything we’ve got into it,” Brady said last week.

Although Brady and the Buccaneers grabbed control of the game early, leading the Bengals 17-3 in the first half, Cincinnati stormed back to win, 34-23.

Apple, a seven-year veteran, remarked in the locker room postgame how Brady “was fairly okay, but not good enough to win,” per Olivia Ray of NBC’s Cincinnati affiliate, WLWT.

Defensive tackle Hill also quipped that the Bengals’ “fairly tough defense came in and played our butts off in 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 close out the regular season as they have two divisional games against the Panthers and Falcons looming.

In the meantime, Tampa Bay is gearing up to face the Cardinals in Arizona on Christmas Day next Sunday.