Everyone on the Buccaneers drew heat during the team’s 3-5 start. But one player, in particular, deserved more blame than he got: Tom Brady. That’s according to former coach Bruce Arians, who currently serves as a senior consultant for Tampa Bay. Downplaying the struggles of offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, Arians told JoeBucsFan.com this week that Brady “played bad” to open the year. But Arians is optimistic about the rest of the season, arguing Brady and Co. found their “swagger” in Germany.

“I talked to Byron every day when that was happening,” Arians said of the Buccaneers’ three-game losing streak in October. “He doesn’t read the papers, and nothing bothers Byron. That’s what I love about him and that’s why he’ll be a damn good head coach one day, because he weathers everything. And (head coach) Todd (Bowles) does, too.”

As for Brady, who’s rebounded with two straight wins as the Buccaneers’ quarterback?

“Nobody is going to say that Brady was playing bad, but he was playing bad,” Arians said. “We also had growing pains on a young offensive front and we weren’t running well. There comes a time as a play-caller when you’re losing yards running the ball and you say, ‘Forget this, I’m putting the ball in Tom’s hands.'”

After the Buccaneers’ win over the Seahawks in Germany on Sunday, moving the team to 5-5 ahead of a Week 11 bye, Arians is confident the team is poised to remain on the upswing.

“I’m really optimistic about the rest of the season,” he said. “First off, we’re getting healthy. Tom smiled at practice last week for the first time this season. He’s going to be fine. I love the swagger we played with Sunday, especially defensively. It’s been missing.”