Tom Brady can be relieved that Buccaneers have more than one way to win | Opinion

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ARLINGTON, Texas – As he left the visitor's locker room at AT&T Stadium and headed to the team buses late Sunday night, Tom Brady seemed to be in particularly good mood.

Someone asked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers icon to pose for a selfie. He obliged.

Then came another similar request.

Cheese.

When it is suggested to Brady that this would not be his flow if his team had lost a game, he merely smiled in agreement.

Then came a man driving a golf cart, asking Brady if he wanted to hitch a ride to the buses. He declined.

Brady, the first quarterback in NFL history to start a game after his 45th birthday, felt good enough to take the long walk after the Bucs smashed the Dallas Cowboys, 19-3, in the prime-time season opener.

There was surely some relief in what transpired.

"There were a lot of tricky things tonight," Brady said during his postgame news conference.

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No, Brady didn’t begin his 23rd season with a signature performance. While the Bucs defense set the tone by dominating a Cowboys unit that hardly resembled the operation that led the NFL in scoring last season — fitting that the first victory under new head coach Todd Bowles came in this fashion — Brady and his unit scratched and clawed. The injury bug that stung the Bucs offense during training camp and preseason carried over to the opener.

Two starters on Brady's unit didn’t finish the game, as left tackle Donovan Smith went out with an elbow injury and receiver Chris Godwin (in his return from a torn ACL and torn MCL) left with a hamstring injury.

"Guys coming in and out, not sure who was going to play,” Brady described. “Guys played. Then they were in, were out, we were rotating people. Not a lot of fluidity. That’s the reality of it. It’s not always the most fluid sport. You’re always doing things to adjust. I think we’re going to find things we like out of the game; there are plenty of things we’re not going to like. Now we have to work on it and get better.”

That the Bucs won big without a big night from Brady — he completed 18-of-27 passes for 212 yards, with a touchdown and an interception — was significant. Sure, Brady is still capable of lighting it up and, if healthy, a deep stable of big-play receivers will test that.

Yet the offense revolved around Leonard Fournette, whose 127 yards on 21 carries marked his most productive regular-season game with the Bucs. The balance was striking. Last season, Brady led the NFL in pass attempts (719), completions (485), passing yards (5,316) and TD strikes (43). But on Sunday night, Tampa Bay logged more rushing attempts (33) than passes.

This was surely a victory for the Bucs' rebuilt O-line — so much so that when Fournette received a game ball from the NBC crew, he turned it over to the linemen — yet perhaps also an indication that the offense may function without monster games from Brady.

Although Brady had some impressive throws, including a 48-yard hookup with one of his new weapons, Julio Jones, he also had a few misfires to note. His fourth-quarter interception, for example, came on a grossly underthrown slant pass to Mike Evans.

"I don’t think he thinks he played well today, but it was good enough for us,” Bucs safety Logan Ryan told Paste BN Sports after the game. Ryan, who made his Bucs debut on Sunday night, won two Super Bowls during four seasons as a Brady teammate with the New England Patriots.

"I told him if we do what we do as a defense it’s going to be hard for people to score. If he does what he does on offense, he’ll score points. It’s a good mix."

For all the drama that surrounded Brady since he last played in a real football game, it was fair to wonder whether there would be a residual impact that affected Brady’s game. He retired for 40 days, then unretired last spring. He took an 11-day hiatus during training camp for personal reasons, which fueled speculation about his high-profile marriage to Gisele Bündchen.

All told, it was the most unusual offseason yet.

Now try to win a record eighth Super Bowl ring.

Brady knows. It’s Week 1. The grind of the NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint.

After surviving Week 1, he knows there’s something to build on. That may seem odd for a man who has achieved so much and experienced even more on a football field. But it’s a new season, with new chemistry to develop and more growth needed. Still.

"I’ve got a long ways to go,” Brady said.

Spoken like a man on a mission.