Tom Brady says Buccaneers are 'in a better place' heading into the bye week as team prepares for stretch run

It's not about how you start the year, but how you finish

This past weekend, Tom Brady became the first quarterback to win a game in four different countries, as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 21-16. For the first time since Weeks 1-2, the Buccaneers are on a two-game winning streak, and back in first place in the NFC South with a 5-5 record.

For the Buccaneers, this season has been full of ups and downs, but they now control their own destiny in the postseason race. During his "Let's Go!" podcast, Brady said that his team is in a much better spot heading into the bye week, following their come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Rams, and their international victory over the Seahawks.

"I think we're in a better place obviously than we were five quarters ago," Brady said, via NFL.com "And, you know, we found a way to beat the Rams, which was a great win for our team. And then to go to Germany and win to get to 5-5 before the bye was a big goal for all of us. So, look, I think it's a challenging year in the NFL.

"I watched a lot of the games, highlights from yesterday and, you know, there's a lot of teams that are -- some that are just playing very, very well -- Minnesota to go into Buffalo, that's a very tough thing to do. The Eagles have played very consistently all year. I think the Chiefs have played very consistently all year. So, you know, other than that it's kind of a hodgepodge of wins and losses and good games and bad games and which defenses show up, which quarterbacks show up."

Brady is right. The NFL playoff standings are pretty wild to look at right now. The AFC East is led by the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets, the Dallas Cowboys are in third place in the NFC East behind the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles and then the Minnesota Vikings are the new kings of the NFC North, and look like legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

Despite this weird start to the regular season for the Buccaneers -- and NFL as a whole -- it's really these next few weeks that matter the most. Who is going to have the resolve to finish out the year in a strong manner and carry that momentum into the playoffs? 

"It's been a unique year to watch," Brady said. "And I think the most important thing when you look forward is how do you play your best football? And if you play your best football you've gotta believe that you're capable of winning every single week. It's just the challenge is how do you do that?

"And I always come back to preparation, to your process. Are you doing the right things to be able to prepare ourselves to play and ultimately get to game day and then be at an emotional level where you can play very well and you can play very free and you can play with a lot of excitement like we did yesterday. So that was more of a template for winning for our team yesterday than it has been all year. Played very good defense. Offense was a little bit better. Now we've got to see if we can continue to improve from here."

According to Tankathon, the Buccaneers have the third-easiest remaining schedule in the NFL. Brady and Co. will of course have to take care of business against their divisional opponents, but also have a couple of interesting matchups left as well, including at the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 11, and vs. the Cincinnati Bengals the following week on Dec. 18. 

Brady understands that Tampa Bay has to turn this spark its created for itself into a flame, and keep that fire alive for the rest of the season.