NFL Winners and Losers: Tom Brady came back to have a miserable season with Bucs

Beating up on the Carolina Panthers wouldn't have proven that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were back, but it was a good spot for them to blow out a bad opponent and get some confidence.

Well, now what?

If the Buccaneers don't look good and loses to the 1-5 rebuilding, fire-sale Panthers, then where's their season heading? The Bucs were somehow shut out in the first half against the Panthers. It's the second time in seven games this season the Bucs have been scoreless in the first half. They were shut out in the third quarter, too. The Buccaneers could get only a field goal in a bad 21-3 loss.

It was a shocking loss, and it was even more surprising how bad the Bucs looked.

This isn't what Tom Brady came back for.

Early in the game, Brady had Mike Evans wide open over the middle. He was going to walk in for a touchdown. Brady hit him in stride, Evans somehow bobbled the pass and knocked it up in the air, and it fell incomplete. That was a sign.

That Evans play was the only sign of life the Bucs had Sunday. The rest of the time they looked pedestrian. Brady was 32-of-49 for 290 yards. He didn't look good.

The injury excuse is pretty much gone. Yes, center Ryan Jensen is still out and that's a big deal. Julio Jones has been out, but that's not shocking. Every team in the NFL is dealing with injuries. Relatively speaking, the lineup the Buccaneers had on the field Sunday was reasonably healthy. Blaming injuries for the lack of offense doesn't fly. And it's not like the Panthers were great on defense before this week. They were 23rd in Football Outsiders' DVOA before Week 7.

This is who the Buccaneers are this season. Maybe things get a little better, but how? Brady doesn't look washed up but he doesn't look like the same guy who led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns last season. He missed several passes in the first half. It was bound to happen that a 45-year-old quarterback would decline. It's not all Brady's fault, but he also isn't the same player. That's getting harder to deny.

Brady's stat line looks a lot better if Evans catches that 75-yard touchdown pass, but it's clear that Tampa Bay has offensive issues that are not going away.

In the third quarter the Buccaneers got the ball in Panthers territory. On third-and-1, with the greatest quarterback ever, the Buccaneers ran up the middle. Leonard Fournette was stuffed. On fourth down, Fournette got it again and got nothing again. The Panthers held their 7-0 lead. Early in the fourth quarter the Panthers broke two long runs and took a 14-0 lead.

Tampa Bay got the ball inside the 10-yard line early in fourth quarter. Brady threw three straight incompletions, including a third-down pass that he tossed right into the ground after being under pressure, and the Bucs settled for a field goal. This is who the Buccaneers are on offense. They have a ton of star players and are mediocre at best.

Brady came back after briefly retiring, and by now everyone knows that he is having issues with his personal life. He came back, presumably, for one more shot at a Super Bowl before he retired for good. The Buccaneers don't look like a Super Bowl team. They don't even look very good. It's probably not getting much better, either.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 7 of the NFL season:

WINNERS

Josh Jacobs: The Las Vegas Raiders probably made a mistake not picking up Jacobs’ fifth-year option.

Jacobs had been solid but not great through three seasons in the NFL. The former first-round draft pick has been much better this season, and he’ll hit free agency when it’s done.

Jacobs had a monster game in the Raiders’ 38-20 win over the Houston Texans. He rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns and helped Las Vegas control the game.

Running backs have been devalued and that’s one reason Jacobs’ option for next season wasn’t picked up. But he has been a consistent force for the Raiders this season.

Joe Burrow: For most of this season, Burrow looked just OK. Not bad, but nothing like the form that brought the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl.

That version of Burrow was back Sunday. For a while it looked like Burrow might have a shot at the NFL record of 554 yards in an easy 35-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons. He had to settle for 481 yards with four touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown.

Burrow hit Ja'Marr Chase for a couple of first-half touchdowns and the rout was on. Burrow looked comfortable for the first time all season and the Bengals cruised to a win. It's not too late for Cincinnati to emerge as a contender again, especially in the AFC North.

Titans defense: Mike Vrabel is a really good head coach. That's why the Tennessee Titans are the easy favorite to win another AFC South title.

The Titans are in the driver's seat after a 19-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts that gives them the season sweep. The Titans are 4-2, and the Colts are a disappointing 3-3-1.

The Titans' defense led the way. They had a long pick-six to open the scoring. They held the Colts to 65 rushing yards, and forced three turnovers. The Titans' defense doesn't have a lot of star players but it has Vrabel's influence all over it.

Tennessee started this season slow but it has recovered. Vrabel probably won't win NFL Coach of the Year, like he did last season but he has Tennessee cruising again, thanks mostly to its defense.

Daniel Jones: He is going to get paid this offseason.

The New York Giants declined the fifth-year option on Jones and it'll probably cost them. Jones did enough again for the Giants in a 23-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Giants are 6-1 after the defense stopped Christian Kirk cold on the 1-yard line on the final play of the game. Jones had 107 yards rushing and another 202 passing.

Playoff teams generally don't move on from their quarterback, and at 6-1, the Giants would have to completely blow it to not make the playoffs. Whether Jones is worth a new deal, the Giants will probably give him one. The franchise tag should be about $31 million for next season, according to Spotrac.

Nobody has benefitted more from the coaching change to Brian Daboll more than Jones.

LOSERS

Chargering: The Los Angeles Chargers had a really, really bad Sunday.

They lost 37-23 to the Seattle Seahawks and that was only a bit of the problem. Cornerback J.C. Jackson, the team’s big offseason addition, went down with what looked to be a bad knee injury. On a fourth-down incompletion in the fourth quarter, receiver Mike Williams had his foot twisted underneath him. He couldn’t put any weight on his leg as he left the field.

The loss was bad enough. The Chargers have to beat teams like the Seahawks at home if they want to be a playoff team. They didn’t look like a playoff team Sunday. More injuries to key players aren’t going to help L.A. get there, either.

Jimmy Garoppolo: He is surrounded by stars, but he’s still a question mark for the San Francisco 49ers.

The difference in quarterbacks was stark Sunday. Patrick Mahomes was great in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 44-23 win. Garoppolo was OK, but he wasn’t going to match Mahomes.

Garoppolo had huge mistakes. His first-half interception in the red zone killed all of the 49ers’ momentum. He took a safety in the fourth quarter with the 49ers barely hanging on to hope.

The 49ers made an all-in type of move to trade for running back Christian McCaffrey on Thursday. That might end up paying off. It's still tough to trust Garoppolo in the biggest moments. First things first, he has to help lead the 49ers out of a 3-4 hole to start the season.

Nathaniel Hackett: There are plenty of Denver Broncos fans who wanted Hackett fired in September.

They sure won’t let up now. The Broncos looked awful again in a home 16-9 loss to the New York Jets and are 2-5 this season.

Russell Wilson was out with a hamstring injury, but he wasn’t helping much when he was playing. On Sunday the Broncos turned to backup Brett Rypien and scored one touchdown. Just because it’s the 2022 Broncos, they missed the extra point after that score.

Denver’s season isn’t going anywhere. The Broncos are probably the most disappointing team in the NFL. They can’t move on from Wilson for a couple more years after giving him a big contract extension. They could, however, move on from Hackett after just one season.

Detroit Lions offense: The good news for the Lions is their defense, which has been awful, showed up against the Dallas Cowboys. They played pretty well in Dak Prescott's return to the starting lineup.

But the offense that was so fun for the first few weeks of the season is gone.

The Lions are miserable right now. They lost 24-6 to the Cowboys, and for the second straight game their offense didn't get in the end zone. It looked like Detroit had a touchdown in the fourth quarter but it was ruled short. Then Jamaal Williams fumbled on the next play. That's how the Lions' season is going.

There was reasonable optimism for the Lions before the season. There's none anymore. If it keeps going this bad, head coach Dan Campbell's job might be in danger too. It's a mess for the Lions.

Browns, but with some bad officiating: The Cleveland Browns are 2-5, and a lot of their malaise is their own doing. They had a complaint on Sunday, though.

Trailing the Baltimore Ravens 23-20, the Browns lined up for a field goal late in the fourth quarter. They didn't seem to move at all, but got called for a false start.

That pushed Cade York's attempt back to 60 yards, and it was blocked. The Ravens went on to win.

The Browns have to blame themselves for their start. Jacoby Brissett hasn't been good. The defense was decent Sunday against the Ravens but it has given up way too much. But in the loss to the Ravens, the officials didn't help.

Aaron Rodgers: A lot like Tom Brady, we have to wonder if Rodgers' prime is over.

The Green Bay Packers looked miserable in a bad 23-21 loss to the Washington Commanders. Rodgers did very little against a middling Washington defense. We can blame Rodgers' line or his lack of receivers, but at some point the responsibility for the Packers' offensive woes fall on him. He's the one with the three-year, $150 million extension. He threw for just 179 yards, with 47 in the first half. Rodgers had his thumb taped and perhaps that affected him, but either way it was not a good day for him or the Packers.

The Packers got nothing going, but they had a shot at an ugly win. On a fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter, Rodgers hit Romeo Doubs on a short pass. Doubs dropped it and the drive ended. Washington took over and scored a game-clinching field goal.

That drop can be blamed on one of Rodgers' teammates. The rest is on Rodgers, who suddenly looks little like the back-to-back MVP from the past two seasons. His final stat line looked better due to a fourth-quarter touchdown to Aaron Jones, but after that score Washington ate up most of the remaining time, the Packers couldn't score on a long lateral play and they fell to 3-4 with a loss that's very hard to explain.

Rodgers has not been terrible but he isn't the same player he has been, either. We probably have to quit blaming everything around Rodgers at some point and wonder how much the quarterback himself has left.