FOXBOROUGH — We've seen that before.
Trailing by one in the fourth quarter, Tom Brady led the Buccaneers down the the field for a game-winning 48-yard Ryan Succop field goal. The kick with 1:57 left put Tampa Bay ahead 19-17 and it held on.
Mac Jones got the Patriots down into Tampa territory, but Nick Folk missed a 56-yard field goal that hit the left upright.
The Patriots are now 1-3, but if there was a moral victory this was it.
Here are 10 quick thoughts from the game.
1. Sunday night showed the Patriots should feel very good about what they have in Jones for the future. The quarterback was very efficient, while taking some big hits along the way. At one point in the second half he completed 19 straight passes. And he will only get better with more experience.
2. Brady's return to Gillette Stadium didn't bring a vintage Brady performance by any means. The 44-year-old missed some open throws and got frustrated by the Patriots defense at times. With that being said, he still was able to drive his team down the field when they needed a score late.
3. The Patriots defense, especially in the secondary, played very well. It did a great job not allowing many big plays, which was a major focus going into the game. The group also did a good job tackling, as not many tackles were missed in the open field. This should give it plenty of confidence moving forward.
4. After having a tough game last week against New Orleans, Josh McDaniels called a great game Sunday night, especially considering the offense couldn't get anything going on the ground. It feels like he's starting to fully trust Jones and the training wheels have been taken off.
5. There was an interesting sequence at the end of the first half. The Patriots called a double-pass on third-and-long and ended up with fourth-and-1 at midfield. New England called a timeout with the offense on the field then quickly subbed the punt team in to try and catch the Bucs off guard. It didn’t work and the Patriots punted inside the 5-yard line, which gave Brady a chance to run a two-minute drill. It ended in a field goal, but it was a little confusing with Bill Belichick wasn’t aggressive, especially after the double-pass.
6. The Buccaneers scored their first touchdown of the game after getting good field position following a penalty on Matthew Slater. The Patriots recovered a fumble, but Slater was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for running out of bounds and not trying to come back in. The team had to re-punt from its own end zone and the Bucs ended up by getting the ball at midfield. Slater was very upset with the call.
7. Due to the Tampa Bay secondary being so banged up, Richard Sherman got plenty of playing time and the Patriots went right at him. In the first half Jones was 7-for-7 passing when Sherman was the closest defender. The Bucs secondary is having major issues right now, not only with how its playing but injuries as well.
8. The Patriots’ offensive line continues to be a big issue to start the year. Many will point to the group not having Trent Brown, but it’s been more than that. This is something that needs to get corrected as it’s really hurting the run game and giving Jones time to throw.
9. Matt Judon seemed annoyed by the number of questions about Brady this week, noting he was just the next quarterback on their schedule and he wasn’t afraid of him. The edge rusher backed that up as he was talking trash to the Bucs quarterback all game long.
10. In terms of honoring Brady, the team played a one-minute video just prior to the Buccaneers coming out before the game and then when he set the NFL record for passing yards they flashed a quick message on the video board. The game was not stopped or anything like that. Brady did not acknowledge the crowd at any point during these.
