The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were handed an embarrassing loss on the road against the Carolina Panthers, not long after they had traded away Robbie Anderson and Christian McCaffrey and replaced Matt Rhule with interim head coach Steve Wilks. Frustrations are running high in Tampa, and Tom Brady hit the Buccaneers with something of a reality check on Tuesday when talking to reporters.

Via Rick Stroud, Brady addressed the Bucs' struggles and had a message for the team going forward.

“I think there's always hope. And then there's reality. And the only thing you can really focus on is what the reality of the situation is, and that is we haven't played our best football. We have a lot of quality players and we have to do a better job of playing well,” said Brady. “You gotta take it one week at a time. Every game's different… Nothing in this game is given to you. You have to go earn everything and I think that's the competitive nature of it. They're good on the other side of the ball too, and we've just got to find a way to go get a win.”

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Brady and the Buccaneers fell to 3-4 on the year following their defeat to the Panthers. Somehow, they're still in first place in the NFC South division, tied with the Falcons. Despite that, Brady knows that if the team wants to get anything out of this season, their performances are going to have to improve, and fast.

Tough tests against the Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Rams, and Seattle Seahawks loom in the coming weeks, and the Buccaneers can't afford to play as they did against the Panthers in Week 7 if they want any real shot at making the playoffs. Tom Brady is urging his teammates to pick up the slack ahead of the crucial stretch.