Tom Brady topped 400 yards AND threw for five touchdown passes for the first time in his illustrious career, helping the Bucs pull away from the visiting Dolphins Sunday for a 45-17 victory
Through the first four possessions of Sunday's game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins Sunday afternoon, each team had gone on two lengthy scoring drives and the game was tied, 10-10. From there, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay defense took over and the Buccaneers ran away with a 45-17 Week Five victory at Raymond James Stadium.
Brady threw five touchdown passes and racked up 411 passing yards without being intercepted, extending his team-record streak to 203 consecutive passes without a pick. It was also the 12th 400-yard passing game of his career and his ninth outing with five-plus touchdown passes. It was, however, the first game of his career in which he had both 400-plus yards and five TDs.
"For Tom, he sees that he's got a lot of weapons," said Head Coach Bruce Arians. "There's contributions from everybody and he trusts guys. His understanding of what we're trying to do inside the 25, and outside the 25 – he can still hit that deep ball as good as anybody."
With the win, the Buccaneers improved to 4-1, marking the fifth time in team history they have been 4-1 or better after five games. In each of the other four – 1979, 1997, 2002 and 2005 – the Buccaneers made the playoffs, with division titles in all but 1997. With Carolina falling to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the Buccaneers took over sole possession of first in the NFC South, one game ahead of both the Panthers and the New Orleans Saints. The Bucs are also guaranteed to be at least tied for the best record in the NFC after Week Five. Tampa Bay plays the Eagles next on Thursday night in Philadelphia.
"It was a good team victory," said Arians. "Offensively, we led the way. Every time they would get back [into the game], we'd answer the bell. And that's what you would expect. I think this was the first fourth quarter when we had the lead and didn't give up any points. That was a big step forward, also."
Brady threw two touchdown passes apiece to Antonio Brown and Mike Evans, including a 62-yarder to Brown in the second quarter that broke that 10-10 tie and put Tampa Bay up for good. Blaine Gabbert relieved Brady for the final seven minutes of the game. Brown finished with seven catches for 124 yards to lead the team and record his third 100-yard game since joining the Buccaneers at midseason in 2020. Along the way, he replaced Hall-of-Famer Marvin Harrison as the fastest to 900 career catches in NFL history.
"It's pretty amazing," said Brady of Brown's feat. "Give him a lot of credit. He's been through a lot and shown a lot of mental toughness, a lot of resilience, a lot of support from a lot of different people in his life at different times. Everyone just really wants him to succeed. BA and Byron [Leftwich] just do a great job with all the different guys that we've got. We've got a really unique group of guys and they're very talented, obviously."
While Brown is a relative newcomer to the Bucs' offense, Evans has been its most productive player for the past eight seasons. He had another 113 yards on six catches Sunday and his two touchdowns pushed his career total to 66, just five behind Mike Alstott for the all-time franchise record. In all, 10 different players caught passes against the Dolphins Sunday and five had more than 40 yards.
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