PHOTO: NFL.com
Who else thought Nick Folk would clang a 56-yard field goal off the left upright in a driving rainstorm to give Tom Brady the win in his return to Gillette Stadium?
The game may not have lived up to the hype in terms of points scored, but the fourth quarter was basically a Hollywood script, with Mac Jones making sure he had a co-starring role right next to Brady. In the end, Brady led one final go-ahead field goal drive late and Folk’s miss with 59 seconds remaining gave the Buccaneers a 19-17 win on a night folks around here won’t soon forget.
Jones (31/40, 275, 2 TD, 1 INT) outdueled Brady (22/43, 269, 0 TD, 0 INT) on the stat sheet and would have had his first big NFL moment and game-winning drive if Folk’s kick went through, but as it did from the time he arrived around 5 PM on Sunday, the night belonged to Brady.
“You know, we had our chances. Just could have done a couple things a little bit better,” said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. “It would have – I don’t know if it would have changed the outcome, but we just – we just fell a little bit short. I thought our team really prepared well this week, and that’s what we’ve got to do every week and coach a little bit better and make a few more plays and start winning these close games.”
As far as the true head-to-head matchup on a possession-by-possession basis, Belichick had Brady off his game for most of the night and ultimately kept him from throwing a TD pass in his return. Brady did set the NFL’s all-time passing yards record which was basically a formality coming in, but for Belichick to hold Brady touchdown-less is a hell of a feat given the talent discrepancy between Tampa’s offense and the Patriots defense. For at least one night, Belichick still had his fastball game plan wise despite the loss.
“They did a good job. They did a good job. It was a tough game,” Brady said of the Pats defense. “Hard-fought game. We ran the ball well. Moved it. We just didn’t get it in the red zone. Had a few costly drive-killing kind of mistakes that limited us getting – really scoring touchdowns would’ve been a lot different. But just proud of our team. Tough weather. You know, just very typical day. We had to grind it out.”
Prior to the game when Brady took the field for warmups around 7:20, the crowd erupted when he jogged out of the visitors tunnel, sprinted the opposite way from what he did for 20 years, finishing right in front of where the Patriots giant inflatable logo usually sits and did his usual “LFG” first pump while screaming at the open end of the lighthouse. Brady jogged back to Tampa’s side of the field, but first he stopped and hugged Josh McDaniels. When the teams were in their respective tunnels before kickoff, the Patriots showed a one minute tribute to Brady before the crowed erupted as the Bucs took the field.
The moment was everything fans and Brady could have hoped for.
“I couldn’t run through the normal tunnel, so, yeah, just happened to be the opposite way tonight,” he said. “Just a lot of emotions. It was a very emotional week. Again, these guys are like my brothers, you know what I mean?
“There are two groups of people, all my Bucs teammates that I love and I’m going to battle with every week, and then there is another group of guys that I see, and those are my friends that I been with for a long time. Matt Slater and Kyle Van Noy and Dont’a Hightower and John and Devin [McCourty] and David Andrews and Hoyer. There is a whole crew. Josh [McDaniels]. These are the people that I’ve shared my life with. Very grateful for everything they’ve kind of contributed to my life. Very blessed.”
Mac Jones showed the world he belonged on Sunday night too. Jones completed 19 straight passes at one point in the second half, tying Brady’s career record for consecutive passes completed in a game. Jones’ best drive of the night was a 77-yard march where he went 7-for-7 and finished with a one-yard TD pass to Jonnu Smith to give the Patriots a 14-13 lead three seconds into the fourth quarter.
Brady put together a 15-play, nearly seven-minute response drive that ended with a Ryan Succop field goal and gave the Bucs a 16-14 lead with 7:58 to go. Jones didn’t flinch, answering with an eight-play drive that ended with a Folk 27-yard field goal and put New England back in front 17-16 with under five minutes left.
Everyone in the building and watching around the world knew Brady would at least get points on the ensuing drive and he did, leading the Bucs downfield until Succop booted a 48-yard field goal following some odd clock management from both teams where the Patriots burned two timeouts before the two minute warning.
Jones had his chance to respond and did, moving 38 yards in six plays and setting up the final kick from Folk. After the miss, it was almost surreal watching Brady kneel out a win for an opponent on the soaking wet Gillette Stadium turf.
“I think just focus on what’s important now,” Jones said of dealing with all the noise this week. “Kind of what I tell myself and on Tuesday that was practice. On Wednesday it was practice. Thursday, practice. Friday practice. So I just try to focus on how I can get better in the past week and everything else is a distraction. I just try to block the noise and everyone on our team tried to block the noise and I wish I played a little better so that we could have won but it is what it is. Hats off to the other football team for getting the win.”
Early on, a Succop field goal in the first quarter stood up as the only points until Jones hit Hunter Henry for an 11-yard touchdown with 8:28 left in the half. Succop gave the Bucs a 7-6 lead at halftime and an eight-yard TD run for Ronald Jones in the third quarter gave Tampa Bay a 13-7 lead heading to the fourth.
There was a sense of closure for everyone involved after the game, particularly Brady, who openly talked about coming back to the area a lot more once he retires. Perhaps with the emotions of this week and the game finally behind him, Brady was able to be as open and honest as he’s ever been in his career.
“It’s been a great stadium for me for a long time,” Brady said of Gillette. “I don’t know what the future holds. Obviously could be an opportunity to come back here. We’ll see. I feel like I’ll always be a part of this community. I’ll be up here quite a bit when it’s all said and done.
“When I retire I’m sure there will be a lot of time for – you know, I have a lot of friends up here and it’s a great place. My kids were born on Beacon Street in the city. It’s been an amazing place for me, it still is. I obviously see a lot of familiar friendly faces, and great to see you guys, too.”
It was great to see the Greatest of All Time back under the lighthouse and six championship banners again too. If it was the final time as a player, then it’s only fitting he left the field a winner.