Buccaneers' Tom Brady: 'I'd Rather Lose and Play Than Not Play at All'

After Sunday's 23-17 overtime loss against the Cleveland Browns, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have struggled to a 6-7 record for the rest of the year.

Tom Brady said on Monday that losing was still better than not playing, despite the struggles.

Joey Knight @TBTimes_Bulls

On his "Let's Go" podcast, @TomBrady already has uttered the phrases, "When you don't win, it feels like the soul gets ripped out of you," and "I'd rather lose and play than not play at all."

Umm, yeah, he's still engaged. #Bucs

Brady spoke with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

"I love playing. I love competing. I love trying to be a little bit better every day. I love going out there with a sense of purpose to try to get better. And ultimately, I love trying to play at a championship level for my teammates... And obviously there's challenges every year. Everybody has unique challenges, you know, on and off the field. You work as hard as you can with the circumstances that are presented before you. We're just going to keep fighting until the end and we'll be measured by, again, by what happens over the course of a long season."

Brady doesn't like the way the team's offense is playing.

He told reporters after the loss that 17 points wouldn't do it. The same thing has been happening all year. We aren't getting enough points. We're losing too many because every play is an individual victory or defeat. We need to correct the plays where we weren't on the right page.

It's 18th in yards per game but 27th in points per game. Brady has completed 66.2 percent of his passes and has thrown for 3,051 yards with 14 touchdown and two interceptions.

It's difficult to argue that the offense isn't the main reason for the team's poor performance. Brady is on pace to throw just 21 touchdown passes this year.

The rest of the South is just as bad. The Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints are both at least a half-game out of a wild card spot.

Anything can happen, so the Bucs may be able to limp into the playoffs. If the Bucs reach the dance, Brady's seven Super Bowl titles will make them potentially formidable opponents.

He hasn't missed the playoffs since 2008, when he tore his knee in the first game. He believes that playing and losing is better than not playing at all, if he misses the playoffs.