Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneer offense put on a show today blowing out the Las Vegas Raiders 45-20. Brady was able move the ball up and down the field with relative ease and was extremely effective with the long-ball. Despite the running game being average at best, Tampa’s deep receiving core was able to pick-up the slack. The defense also had a solid outing holding Vegas to just 75 rushing yards. However, in the words of Chris Godwin “We are starting to see what this offense can do.
Tom Brady is still the G.O.A.T
For the third time in 7 games this season, Brady and the Bucs put up 38+ points. Once again, Tampa’s offense started the game off well with a really solid first half. After going down 7-0, Tampa found themselves at the 28 yard-line with 3rd and 5 to go. Brady delivered a 20 yard strike to Rob Gronkowski, for what looked like an big first-down. However, as Gronkowski was falling down, the ball popped lose and was there for the taking. Gronkowski made an great effort to establish himself in-bounds and dive on the loose ball. Had he not, it would’ve set the Raiders up with great field position and a marvelous chance to go up by two scores. Gronkowskis effort saved the drive and would set-up a 2 yard Brady sneak to tie the game.
The Buccaneers went on to score 14 points in the 2nd quarter, while holding the Raiders to just a field goal. After not catching a touchdown in the first 5 games, Gronkowski would catch his second in 2 games. This put Brady and Gronkowski tied for second all-time for touchdowns by a quarterback-receiver duo, but more importantly gave the Bucs a 14-10 lead. After stopping the raiders and getting the ball back with under two minutes in the half, the Bucs offense got back to work. The drive looked to have come to a stop, but Brady connected with Godwin to keep the drive alive. Then, on a beautifully thrown ball, Brady found Scotty Miller in the back of the endzone for a 33 yard touchdown to give Tampa a 21-10 heading into the locker room.
Raiders make it close in the third
After a strong first half things seemed to pick up where they left off. After stopping the Vegas, Ryan Succop would kick a 29-yard field goal to put the Bucs up 24-10. Then things got a little closer. Derick Carr threw a 44- yard pass to Nelson Agholor that set up a 2 yard Darren Waller touchdown. The score now 24-17, the running game started to struggle. What seemed like strong start for the Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones duo faded away in the second half. Fournette would finish with 11 carries for 50 yards while Jones had 13 carries for 34 yards. While this may of helped keep the game close for a bit, the defense and passing attack would help the Bucs pull away.
Bucs pull away
After the Raiders hit a field goal to make it 24-20, Brady continued to move the ball down the field. Mike Evans would get in on the action after not having a catch in the first half, in addition to catches from Fournette and Miller. This would set up Brady to throw a dart to Chris Godwin to once again give Tampa Bay a two-score lead. Although the defense was not as dominant as it was last week, they still came up with timely plays. Including the play that would put the nail in the Raiders coffin. Antoine Winfield Jr. would come up with his first interception of the season and set Brady and the offense up just outside the redzone. Shortly after Brady would find Godwin at the goal line and on the next play Jones would leap over the pile to put the game out of reach.
The Bucs would add a Tyler Johnson touchdown to add insult to injury and make the score 45-20 where it would remain. This capped off arguably Brady’s best performance this season. He threw for 369 yards and was 33-for-45 and 5 total TDs. Scotty Miller led the receivers with 6 catches for 109 yards. Although the Derick Carr’s mobility caused some issues for the defense they still had a strong performance. They had 3 sacks and the game-sealing INT. Tampa Bay has sole possession of first place and a 5-2 record. They will head to New York to face the Giants on Monday Night Football next week and keep rolling.
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