Monday Night Football: Tom Brady and the Bucs back to winning ways with victory over NY Giants
By Ben Morse, CNN
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers returned to winning ways on Monday Night Football, beating the New York Giants 30-10 at Raymond James Stadium.
Brady threw 307 passing yards and two touchdowns as the Bucs ended their two-game losing streak on Monday night, continuing the Giants’ season of struggles.
The 44-year-old also avoided losing three in a row for the first time since 2002.
It was the 104th time in Brady’s career that he’s finished with over 300 passing yards. Only Drew Brees with 123 has more such games in NFL history.
After the Tampa Bay’s disappointing Week 10 loss to the Washington Football Team, Brady cut a frustrated character in his postgame press conference.
However, on Monday night, the veteran quarterback looked much more content.
“We played better,” a smiling Brady said. “Better for all of us when we play better.”
He added: “We’re at a decent point, but we can play a lot better than we’ve played. Hoping our best football is ahead of us.”
A 300-pound record-breaking evening
After two underwhelming performances, Monday night started much better for the Bucs.
Brady connected with Chris Godwin for a 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give the home team the lead early on.
However, the former New England Patriots quarterback’s second quarter intercepted pass allowed New York to draw level.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones threw a touchdown to offensive lineman Andrew Thomas to tie the score at 10-10, but the Bucs turned the screw from there.
Brady was almost flawless for the rest of the game, and the Tampa Bay defense stymied the Giants’ offense.
Jones was sacked twice and threw two interceptions to Steve McLendon and Mike Edwards while Ronald Jones ran in the third of Tampa Bay’s touchdowns.
For the first time in NFL history, a 300-pound player had a touchdown (Thomas) and a 300-pound player had an interception (McLendon) in the same game.
It was a particularly momentous game for Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans, who — when he caught a five-yard TD pass from Brady — entered himself into the team’s history books.
It was Evans’ 72nd touchdown for the franchise, breaking the previous record for the most Bucs touchdowns of 71 set by Mike Alstott.
Evans can add the record to his ever-growing resume of Tampa Bay all-time records.
He already holds Bucs franchise records for receptions, receiving yards, touchdown catches and 100-yard receiving games.
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He also has the single-season records for receiving yards and touchdown catches and is tied for the most overall touchdowns in a single season.
He’s now got 10 touchdowns on the year, the fourth time in eight NFL seasons he’s reached double digits in that category.
“He’s amazing in every way, as a player, teammate, friend, leader,” said Brady of Evans. “I love being out there with him, I love playing with him. He really sets the tone for that group. He had a great night.”
The-CNN-Wire
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