Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
Tom Brady looked as good as good as ever on Sunday.
Brady was forced into a shootout with rookie Justin Herbert and prevailed like an old veteran should, dragging the Buccaneers to a 38-31 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Brady and the Bucs trailed by 17-points at one point, but, he thew for 369 yards and five touchdowns (and a pick 6) in the win. Herbert was 20-25 for 290 yards and three touchdowns of his own and gave the GOAT a serious scare. The Bucs are now 3-1 and despite a plethora of injuries on the offensive side of the ball, Brady is still playing well.
“We put ourselves in a pretty good hole,” Brady said in his postgame press conference. “We were going to have to dig ourselves out of it and that’s just the way football works sometimes. Just got to tighten some things up, I’m glad we came back. The defense made a big play for us before the end of the half and that got us ignited a little bit.
“We made some plays in the third quarter, made some good plays in the fourth quarter. We started the game well, finished the game well, we’ve just got to figure out how to play 60 minutes well.”
Brady and the Bucs went up 7-0 on a short touchdown pass to Cam Brate early in the first quarter, but, the Chargers scored 24 unanswered with six of the points coming on a 78-yard pick-six from Brady.
The big defensive play Brady spoke of before the half was a forced fumble by Ndamukong Suh at the Charger 6-yard line. The ball was recovered by Devin White. Three plays later Brady found Mike Evans (7 catches, 122 yards) to cut it to 24-14 at halftime.
Brady threw touchdown passes to OJ Howard (28 yarder) and Scotty Miller (19 yarder) to cut the deficit to 24-21 and then take the lead back at 28-24 in the third quarter. Herbert wasn’t going to just fold, throwing another bomb to Jake Guyton for a 72-yard TD to end the third and reclaim a 31-28 lead.
“He was very impressive today,” Brady said of Herbert. “Our defense has played great all year, but, he hung in there and made some throws on some big plays. We blitzed him a little bit and he just stood in there and took it.”
With 11:05 left in the game Brady hit running back Ke-Shawn Vaughn for a quick 9-yard TD pass to give the Buccaneers a 35-31 lead. The defense was able to hold the fort until a Ryan Succop 26-yard field goal made it a 38-31 game with just over two minutes left.
“I thought he just played outstanding,” said head coach Bruce Arians of Brady. “I’ve just got to coach him up better on that one play (that was intercepted) and just get it coached better. But, he played fantastic and was lights-out in the second half.”
Following the game, Brady began shaking some hands at midfield. It wasn’t an ordinary postgame mingle session though. Brady never moved a muscle as seemingly the entire Los Angeles roster came to greet him like he was in a receiving line at a wake. Brady was the one who tapped Herbert on the shoulder to shake his hand in the scrum though, showing why he’s still a class act and great ambassador for the game.
“He’s got all the ability, he’s got a great arm and moves really well,” Brady added on the young QB. “The team believes in him, so. he’s off to a great start.”
Rob Gronkowski was held to one catch again this week after hauling in six in the previous game. Howard was lost for the season due to an Achilles injury, so, one would have to think it’s now or never for the old Brady/Gronk chemistry to return.
It also appears that many of the kinks are being worked out between Arians and Brady. If that’s the case, then this Tampa Bay team may end up being as good as advertised after all.
“I think there were some times when we hit a little bit of a lull but, I thought from the last 50 seconds (of the first half) to the end of the ballgame we made plays to win the ballgame,” Arians added. “Very seldom does our defense give up a lead, but they did and we bounced right back and got the score. Then we got the huge interception to ice it. I think we can play better, but we’re getting there.”