Tom Brady's assessment that the Bengals' defense is "fairly tough" was proven to be a significant understatement, and Cincinnati revelled in illustrating his misjudgement after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback turned the ball over three times in their Week 15 clash.

A 34-23 victory gave the visitors the last laugh in Tampa, a result that marked the first time in 90 games a Brady side lost a home game after leading by 17, and extended the Bengals winning streak to six games.

Prior to the game, Brady said on the SiriusXM 'Let's Go!' podcast that the Bengals possessed a "fairly tough" defense.

Though the comments were blown out of proportion in the days leading up to the game, they were not forgotten by the Bengals.

Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt poked fun at Brady, saying: "Hearing that from an old, savvy vet from him, we're a 'fairly tough defense,' with four turnovers, what would you say - tough as nails?"

Defensive tackle BJ Hill admitted the team's early performance fitted Brady's description, though he was delighted to quiet a chatty Bucs offense in the second half.

"That's how we played in the first half, I'm not going to lie to you. But we just came out in the second half and played our tails off," he told reporters.

"They really didn't say too much when we got up on them. I told them, 'Just wait until the second half.' I knew what we were going to do in the second half. And we did that."

For safety Jessie Bates III, the Bengals' defensive efforts had little to do so with Brady's comments.

"We don't really care about what people say. It is how it is, week in and week out. Somebody's going to say something. At the end of the day, they got to see us," he said.

The 10-4 Bengals hold a narrow lead over the Baltimore Ravens in the battle for the AFC North crown. Cincinnati face Baltimore in their final regular-season game on January 8.