Tom Brady sure didn't look like Tom Brady again and the Bucs should be concerned

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Tom Brady over the offseason for moments like the one they found themselves in late in Monday night’s game against the Rams and yet again the GOAT didn’t look like the GOAT and the Bucs went home with another loss in a primetime game.

Brady ran out onto the field with 2:36 remaining in the game and with the Bucs trailing by three points. For years we knew how these type of things would end for Brady but this year it seems like things have changed for No. 12. That was on display again against the Rams as his night ended with an ugly interception on a 2nd-and-10 with just under two minutes remaining in the game.

And just like that we were all reminded that 43-year-old Brady is a lot different than the younger versions we’ve seen pull out some late-game magic so many times before.

Brady is now 1-3 in primetime games this year, which included a loss to the Bears in which he seemed to get confused with what down it was on his final play of the game.

Two weeks ago on SNF Brady suffered the worst loss of his career (points-wise) against the Saints in which he threw three interceptions and not a single touchdown pass.

Against the Rams he had some good flashes but he also had some really bad ones, too.

There was a questionable call that went his way when just about everyone thought Brady had fumbled the ball after being hit in his own end zone.

Then there was the play in which he threw two forward passes on one play and got flagged for it. That what was a very un-Brady-like moment, much like the whole fourth-down fiasco against the Bears.

Brady has had some Brady-like games this year, too. But these primetime performances when everybody has been watching him haven’t gone his way for the most part and he’s often looked like this game might be passing him by.

We saw the exact opposite Sunday night when Patrick Mahomes stepped on the field and needed to score a TD in the final two minutes to beat the Raiders. We all knew how that was going to go and Mahomes made it look easy as he led the Chiefs to a win with a TD pass to Travis Kelce.

Brady no longer has that aura about him when he steps on the field for a possible game-winning drive in the final minutes and it’s been very weird to see.

Can he still lead the Bucs to the Super Bowl?

Sure. The offense has a ton of weapons and could be much more explosive in a few more weeks.

But Brady is going to have to play a whole lot better down the stretch of those big games or the Bucs won’t stand a chance.

Quick hits: McCarthy smashes watermelons… NBA free-agency grades… Fantasy waive-wire targets… And more.

– Mike McCarthy fired up the Cowboys before Sunday’s game by… smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer.

– Charles Curtis free-agency grades for all 30 NBA teams.

– Henry McKenna has six players you should be looking at on your fantasy football waiver wires.

– Steven Ruiz breaks down the key storylines from Week 11 and says Carson Wentz should be benched.

– Rick Pitino wants the start of the college hoops season to be pushed back to March but Andrew Joseph explains why that will never happen.

[jwplayer kuUvT0Xx-q2aasYxh]