TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady overcame a first-half pick-six and a 17-point deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday 38-31, giving him the fifth-largest comeback in his career.
It was also the Bucs’ second-largest comeback in franchise history, behind a 21-point comeback against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008.
“How can you not believe in him?” said wide receiver Scotty Miller, who finished with five catches for 83 receiving yards and a touchdown. “He’s the greatest to ever do it. We just needed to go in there and follow his lead. We know he’s gonna get the job done, so we’ve just gotta do what we do and help him out a little bit.”
For the 43-year-old Brady, it was his biggest comeback since overcoming a 28-3 deficit in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons — a far cry from a select group of 6,383 fans and family members who got their first glimpse of Brady in person this season. He finished 30 of 46 for 369 passing yards, five touchdowns, and one interception.
“We put ourselves in a pretty good hole — and we were gonna have to dig out way out of it,” Brady said. “And that’s just the way football works sometimes.”
Brady and the Bucs’ offense had gotten off to an explosive start the past two weeks, scoring 43 total points in the first half and fizzling in the second with just 13 points. This week, after trailing 24-7 in the first half, the Bucs scored four touchdowns in the final 30:28 to win and improve to 3-1.
Prior to Sunday, the Bucs had lost 42 consecutive games when trailing by 17 or more points, with their last such win coming in 2011, Week 2 at the Minnesota Vikings.
“We knew we played poorly. It was just a show of character. I can honestly say, had this been last year, we would have gotten our a– beat by 20,” coach Bruce Arians said, praising the leadership of his captains. “[With] Tom — he’s never behind in his mind, so we can always make plays to win games.”
With 4:08 to go in the first quarter, Brady attempted to find Justin Watson on an out route but was instead intercepted by cornerback Michael Davis, who returned it 78 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-7 Chargers. It was a double out route — a play conceptually similar to one that resulted in a pick-six against the New Orleans Saints on a pass also intended for Watson.
Brady’s scoring surge began with a forced fumble by Ndamukong Suh, recovered by Devin White on a botched handoff from Herbert to Joshua Kelley. It was recovered at the Chargers’ 6-yard line, setting up a leaping 6-yard touchdown grab by Mike Evans with :28 to go in the second quarter to make it 24-14.
forced fumble by Ndamukong Suh, recovered by Devin White on a botched handoff from Herbert to Joshua Kelley. It was recovered by Devin White at the Chargers’ 6-yard line, setting up a leaping 6-yard touchdown grab by Mike Evans with :28 to go to make it 24-14.
Then began an onslaught of downfield passing.
With 8:30 to go in the third quarter, on second-and-8 with four receivers lined up in four verticals, Brady hit O.J. Howard on a seam route working against Kyzir White for a 28-yard touchdown to make it 24-21.
Next came a 44-yard bomb to Scotty Miller, followed by a 19-yard touchdown pass to Miller on a crossing route to make it 28-24 and gain the lead. Then with 12:51 to go in the fourth quarter, on third-and-20, Brady connected with Evans — who was working against Casey Hayward Jr. — on a 48-yard pass along the right sideline, setting up a 9-yard touchdown pass to rookie running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn to make it 35-31.
“I think we knew that it was all out there for the taking. We had a lot of opportunities that we just didn’t capitalize on, just penalties that were setting us back,” Miller said. “The coaches did a good job of making adjustments of what they were giving us — they were giving us a little more Cover-2 than we thought they were so we made the proper adjustments and the coaches put us in a great position to make plays and we made em. So it was a good second half for us.”
A 26-yard field goal extended the Bucs’ lead to 38-31 with 2:44 to go, before cornerback Carlton Davis picked off Herbert on an overthrown ball to seal the win and run out the clock. Davis said Brady’s play inspired them on defense. After giving up 24 points in the first half, they allowed just seven in the second.
“He’s the GOAT. That’s as simple as I can put it. He’s the GOAT — Tom Brady. He’s a great player, even better to play off of him,” Davis said. “Having him go down and score touchdowns gives us a lot more energy on our sidelines and just gives the whole sideline more confidence in the comeback we had today.”
“We just had to get our heads out of our butts and make some plays and be aggressive, play that defense we’ve been playing the previous three games,” Davis said. “That’s what we did, man. Any given Sunday, all kinds of obstacles are gonna occur and it’s all about how you battle back. I think we did a good job of battling back today.”
A complete game still eludes Brady’s Bucs. The defense struggled against a rookie QB — albeit a very good one — and a Chargers squad decimated by injuries.
“[We’ve] just gotta tighten some things up,” Brady said. “Glad we came back. Defense made a big play for us before the end of the half, and that got us ignited a little bit, and then we made some plays in the third, quarter, made some good plays in the fourth quarter. We started the game well, we finished the game well — that middle part — we gotta figure out how to play 60 minutes well.”
The Bucs’ injuries started to pile up too. Chris Godwin and Leonard Fournette did not play due to hamstring and ankle injuries. Evans left to have his ankle X-rayed but returned. LeSean McCoy left with an ankle injury.
Kick returner Kenjon Barner also left with a concussion. And they lost Howard in the fourth quarter with an Achilles injury. Arians believes he is likely done for the season, which hurts the Bucs on a short week. They play Thursday night at the Chicago Bears.
“I don’t think Chris will be ready,” Arians said. “Leonard has a chance. But losing O.J. will be huge.”
