Nick Folk missed what would of possibly been a game winning 56 yard field goal with 59 seconds left, and Tom Brady and the defending world champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers came away with a 19-17 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Tampa Bay (3-1) jumped on the scoreboard first on a 29 yard field goal by Ryan Succop with 4:53 left in the first quarter. They had a chance to extend that lead when Mac Jones was intercepted late in the first quarter, but Succop missed a 36 yard field goal attempt. New England took their first lead 7-3 when Jones hit tight end Hunter Henry for an 11 yard touchdown with 8:35 left in the second. Succop hit a 46 yarder just before the half, and the Pats took a 7-6 advantage into the break.
The Buccaneers re-took the lead on an eight yard scoring run by Ronald Jones late in the third quarter, before the Patriots responded with a seven play 77 yard drive that was capped off with a Jones one yard TD pass to Jonnu Smith on the first play of the fourth to make it 14-13 New England. Tampa in a back and forth second half got another Succop field goal to go back on top about seven minutes later, but the poised rookie Jones marched his team down the field again and a Folk 27 yard field goal made it 17-16 in favor of the hosts with the key play on the drive being a reverse to Jakobi Meyers who then threw it down the right sideline to Nelson Agholor for a 30 yard completion. Brady as he’s done many times before would bounce right back in crunch time, and put Succop in position for his fourth field goal of the night from 48 yards with 2:02 to play. On the final drive, a defensive pass interference call against Jordan Whitehead would put New England out near midfield. The Pats would get to the Tampa 37 yard line and had a fourth down and three and decided to let Folk try to win it despite the heavy rain and conditions. The kick was long enough, but hit the bottom of the left upright as the Buccaneers took over and would line up in victory formation to run out the clock and end the game.
Jones was 31-40 passing for 275 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the loss for the 1-3 Patriots. The rookie out of Alabama matched a record set by Brady in New England with 19 straight completions at one point. They never were able to establish a run game on the night finishing with -1 yard on eight attempts. Meyers led the receiving core with eight catches for 70 yards, while Kendrick Bourne (8-58), Agholor (3-55), and Brandon Bolden (6-51) also chipped in. Jonathan Jones had seven total tackles and Kyle Dugger had six to lead the defense. Matthew Judon had a productive night with four tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss. Brady was 22-43 passing for 269 yards and didn’t throw a touchdown or an interception. Needing just 68 yards, Brady also broke the record for passing yards all-time that was held by Drew Brees. Leonard Fournette had 138 total yards of total offense with 20 rushes for 91 yards and adding three catches for 47 yards. Mike Evans and Antonio Brown both had seven catches for 75 and 63 yards respectively. Antoine Winfield Jr. had an interception and a forced fumble, while Richard Sherman made seven tackles to lead the Tampa Bay defense. New England is at Houston to battle the Texans next Sunday at 1 p.m.
