It was a tale of two kickers with the New England Patriots defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19-14 Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium. The Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski was four for four on field attempts while Bucs K Nick Folk missed three field goal attempts.
The Patriots won the opening toss. And on their first possession, New England threw the ball four straight times with Brady completing each pass, gaining two first downs & advancing the ball to their own 45 yard line. But on his fifth pass of the night, Brady did what he hadn't done this year. He was intercepted by Safety Justin Evans, who was starting in place of Keith Tandy. The Evans' interception was on the Bucs 36 yard line & was returned two yards.
On their first possession following the interception, Tampa Bay was able to gain one first down on their first offensive play of the night, when QB Jameis Winston hit WR Mike Evans with a 10 yard gain. But Tampa Bay was unable to move the ball after that first down & had to punt.
The Patriots on the second possession were much quieter & were held to a three & out. Meanwhile the Bucs second possession of the night, started the same way their first possession did with a completion from Winston to Evans for 10 yards. The first play after that first down included a familiar face for the first time this year. RB Doug Martin got his first carry of the year after missing the first three games due to a league suspension. Martin's first carry went for seven yards but the Bucs were unable to take advantage of good field position & the solid run by Martin.
After being pinned inside their own five yard line, the Patriots started their third drive & the first scoring drive of the night with their first run of the game. The Patriots ran the ball on consecutive plays, then on third down, kept the drive alive when Brady found WR Chris Hogan for 12 yards. The Bucs were able to get to Brady on the drive, but the sack by DT Clinton McDonald was sandwiched by Brady completions, one a 17 yard gain to Brandin Cooks & the other a 13 yard catch by WR Danny Amendola. After two rushing attempts & after using their first timeout, New England got a boost from the running game when RB Dion Lewis ran to the right for 31 yards, getting the Patriots inside the redzone for the first time. The Patriots started the redzone attempt with two straight runs before pressure on Brady caused an incompletion. And on fourth down, New England settled for a 29 yard field goal by K Stephen Gostkowski.
Although the first quarter ended with the Patriots leading just 3-0, the Bucs defense was on the field for over 11 minutes & allowed eight first downs & 125 total yards. But two plays into the second quarter, the Bucs got their second sack of the night when DT Gerald McCoy was able to get to Brady on a third & one, forcing New England to punt & giving Tampa Bay their first possession of the second quarter. With that possession, the Bucs were able to get into the redzone for the first time, mainly because of a combination of a Winston completion & runs by Martin. The redzone trip ended with a one yard TD run by Martin. Initially Martin looked like he reached the endzone on an 10 yard run but he was ruled down before reaching the endzone. But Martin completed the Bucs' 11 play 68 yard drive on the next play. And on the scoring drive, Martin rushed for 48 yards, leading the Bucs to a 7-3 lead.
Trailing 7-3 with just under 9 minutes left in the half, the Patriots took less than five minutes to get the lead back. With three passes to RB James White, two to Amedola & finally a TD pass to WR Chris Hogan, Brady threw for 84 yards on the scoring drive giving New England their second lead of the night, this one 10-7.
Prior to the two minute warning, the Bucs were unable to get a first down & gave the ball back to Brady & the Patriots. After a 42 yd punt return by Amedola plus an unsportsmanlike penalty on CB Ryan Smith during the return, the Patriots were able to add to their lead with a 22 yard field goal by Gostkowski, but it wasn't the last field goal attempt of the half. After the Patriots kicked off, the Buccaneers with the help of two roughing the passer penalties, were able to get to the Patriots 39 yard line & set up for a 56 yard field goal attempt. Unfortunately, Buccaneers K Nick Folk missed wide right at the end of the half.
In that first half, New England outgained Tampa Bay 234-123, with the Patriots controlling the football for over 18 minutes. Tampa Bay received the ball at the beginning of the second half but could only get seven yards on that possession. With the Patriots starting their first drive in the second half on their own 23 yard line, Brady put together another scoring drive with completions to Cooks, Hogan & a solid run by RB Dion Lewis. But the drive stalled at the Bucs 28 yard line leading to another Gostkowski field goal, his third of the game.
On the Bucs possession following Gostkowski's third field goal, the Bucs were able to get a first down but only because of a neutral zone infraction prior to a fourth down punt. Three plays later the Bucs punted for the second time in the half. And prior to the end of the third quarter, New England put together a drive that reached the Bucs 47 yard line, with Brady hitting Amedola for 14 yards, then Hogan for another 16. But the Bucs once again came up with a big defensive play when LB Adarius Glanton hit Brady causing a fumble, which was recovered by DL Will Clarke. After the fumble recovery, the Bucs were able to get into Patriots territory but had the drive stall at the Patriots 32 yard line, where Folk attempted but missed a 49 yard field goal, his second miss of the night.
After Folk's second miss drove to the Patriots 33 yard line but rather than try a 50 yard field goal, New England punted. And with the Bucs starting inside their own five yard line, Winston began a drive that would get the Bucs inside the redzone. The drive's biggest play came when Winston found WR Desean Jackson for 41 yards line. The Bucs got as close to the Patriots three yard line, but were pushed back 10 yards when an apparent Winston three yard touchdown scramble was nullified because of a holding penalty. After the penalty, the Bucs were forced to attempt a field goal. This time Folk missed from 31 yards, his third miss of the game.
With just over 5:30 left in the game the Patriots got the ball back but were forced to punt after three plays. And the Bucs took over from their own 26 yard line. Three completions by Winston got the Bucs inside Patriots territory. Once there, Winston got the Bucs inside the redzone with another completion to Jackson, this one 29 yards. Then two plays later, the Bucs got their second touchdown when Winston hit TE Cameron Brate for 18 yards cutting the Patriots lead to 2, 16-14.
The scoring in the game ended when Gostkowski hit his fourth field goal, this one from 48 yards, after the Bucs were unsuccessful with an on-side kick attempt. The Bucs did have one final drive & got the ball to the Patriots 19 yard line after Winston hit WR Adam Humphries & Brate with completions but with three seconds, Winston's pass TE OJ Howard fell incomplete ending the game.
Winston finished the game with 334 passing yards, his third straight 300 yard game. Meanwhile Jackson had his first 100 yard receiving game as a Buc, grabbing 5 catches for 106 yards.
The Bucs (2-2) are off until Sunday October 15th, when they travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals.
(Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)