TAMPA, Fla. – Tom Brady threw for 303 yards and one touchdown, and New England's porous defense showed signs of improvement in a 19-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.
The Super Bowl champions rebounded from a last-second loss to Carolina, despite Brady turning the ball over twice — on his first interception in eight regular-season games and a fumble on one of Tampa Bay's three sacks.
Neither of the mistakes led to points for Tampa Bay.
Brady threw a 5-yard TD pass to Chris Hogan in the second quarter, and Stephen Gostkowski kicked field goals of 27, 23, 45 and 48 yards for the Patriots (3-2).
Jameis Winston rallied Tampa Bay (2-2) late with an 18-yard TD pass to Cameron Brate that trimmed New England's lead to 16-14 with 2:09 to play. Then he marched the Bucs from their 25 to the Patriots 19 before throwing an incompletion on the final play.
It might not have come down to a last-second drive if not for another poor performance by Bucs kicker Nick Folk.
He missed two field goals and an extra-point before beating the New York Giants on a last-second kick last week. He missed three more field goals Thursday night, including a 31-yarder that would have cut a nine-point deficit to six in the closing minutes.
With his 186th career regular-season win as a starter, Brady tied Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most victories by a quarterback in NFL history. He also has 25 postseason victories, including five in Super Bowls.
