Tom Brady beats Patriots in New England return, 19-17.
On a wet Sunday night in New England, Tom Brady rallied the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 19-17 victory against the Patriots,
with Ryan Succop nailing the game-winning 48-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter.
Brady completed 22 of 43 passes for 269 yards and no touchdowns,
but he orchestrated the game-winning fourth-quarter drive against his old club.
For the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
Ronald Jones added an 8-yard touchdown run (3-1).
Brady surpassed Drew Brees’ NFL career passing yards record and joined Brees,
Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to win games against all 32 NFL clubs.
With less than a minute remaining, New England had a chance to win,
but Nick Folk’s 56-yard field-goal attempt hit the left upright.
For the first time since 2001, the Patriots are 1-3.
Mac Jones, a rookie quarterback for the Patriots, completed 31 of 40 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns.
Multiple errors on defense, as well as shaky special teams performance — including bad punts,
a missed early field goal, and expensive penalties — plagued the Buccaneers.
But Tampa Bay was able to remain in the game with crucial plays,
like Antoine Winfield Jr. forcing a fumble by J.J. Taylor that was recovered by Richard Sherman early in the third quarter to halt a promising drive.
With the Buccaneers down 17-16, Brady and the Buccaneers took over on their own 25 and drove to the Patriots’ 30 in only seven plays.
Succop comfortably connected on a 48-yarder with 2:02 remaining after Antonio Brown failed to hold onto a pass in the end zone.
The Patriots punted with a 7-6 lead, and Matt Slater seemed to recover a Jaydon Mickens fumble.
However, Slater’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty nullified the play.
The Buccaneers took over and scored an 8-yard touchdown run by Ronald Jones to cap an eight-play,
52-yard drive.
The Patriots answered on their following possession, driving to the Buccaneers’ 1 with six consecutive completions by Jones.
Jones then connected with Jonnu Smith in the back of the end zone to put the Patriots up 14-13.
Tampa’s next drive got them all the way to the Patriots’ 8,
but they had to settle for Ryan Succop’s third field goal of the game to make it 16-14.
With 7:58 remaining in the game, New England took possession and swiftly marched down the field, into the red zone on a trick play that culminated with receiver Jakobi Meyers firing a 30-yard touchdown to Nelson Agholor. The drive stopped there,
and Nick Folk’s 27-yard field goal put the Patriots back in ahead 17-16.
During the pregame, Brady was greeted with applause before entering the field to a chorus of boos on the Buccaneers’ opening drive of the night.
When he threw a 28-yard throw to Mike Evans on their second offensive series of the night,
he surpassed Brees’ record of 80,358 yards and became the NFL’s regular-season passing leader.
The throw set up a 29-yard field goal for the Bucs to take a 3-0 lead.
On the Patriots’ following drive, Tampa Bay’s defense increased the pressure on Jones. Jones was forced to hurry a throw that was tipped by Ross Cockrell and intercepted by Winfield after linebacker Devin White had a clean run up the middle.
The Patriots made the Buccaneers’ error irrelevant by halting them on third down just inside the red zone. The Buccaneers tried another field goal, but Succop’s effort from 36 yards went wide right.
Just before halftime, New England took advantage of Tampa Bay’s injury-plagued defense to pull ahead.
Cornerback Jamel Dean (knee) and linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul (shoulder) were both out for the Buccaneers heading into the game.
Tampa Bay signed Sherman to a one-year contract on Wednesday,
and he was inserted into the starting lineup in place of Dean.
Sherman, on the other hand, seemed to be a little sluggish at times.
In the second quarter, he was called for pass interference and gave up a 16-yard catch to Kendrick Bourne.
Carlton Davis III was also called for third-down pass interference during a Patriots possession that went 11 plays for 74 yards
and ended with an 11-yard touchdown throw from Jones to Hunter Henry to put New England up 7-3.
INJURIES
Buccaneers: Davis III was taken off the field with a quad injury in the second quarter and did not return. In the fourth quarter, Winfield walked into the locker room to be examined for a concussion.
Patriots: Defensive End With a chest ailment, Henry Anderson exited the game in the second quarter and did not return.
RB After taking a hit in the second quarter, Damien Harris was rattled but was allowed to return. DB Cody Davis was forced to leave the game in the third quarter due to a knee injury.
Late in the fourth quarter, Jonathan Jones departed the game.
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