Better defense helps Brady get a milestone
Tom Brady tied the NFL record for regular-season wins with some timely help from a porous New England defense showing signs of improvement Thursday.
Brady threw for 303 yards and one touchdown, and the Patriots held off host Tampa Bay 19-14 to rebound from a 33-30 loss to Carolina on Sunday that left them searching for answers to defensive woes.
The Super Bowl champions won despite Brady committing two turnovers — on his first interception in eight regular-season games and a fumble on one of Tampa Bay’s three sacks.
On a night when the offense gained 402 yards but got in the end zone only once, Brady lauded the defense, which slowed the Bucs just enough to win.
“They kept us in it all night,” Brady said. “I wish we could have scored more points offensively, but the defense really held their own.”
Neither of Brady’s turnovers led to points for the Bucs (2-2), who were unable to do much offensively until the fourth quarter, when two missed field-goal tries by Nick Folk hindered their rally.
“We responded,” New England head coach Bill Belichick said after the defense, which yielded 456 yards and 32 points per game through the first four weeks of the season, contained the NFL’s third-ranked passing attack until Jameis Winston rallied his team in the final 15 minutes. Giving up “a lot fewer points, you’ve got a chance to win,” Belichick added.
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 Pats (3-2).
Winston rallied Tampa Bay with an 18-yard TD pass to Cameron Brate to cut New England’s lead to 16-14 with 2:09 left.
After Gostkowski’s fourth goal put the Patriots up by five, Winston marched the Bucs from his 25 to the Patriots’ 19 before misfiring on the final play.
It might not have come down to a last-minute drive if not for another poor game by Folk.
The kicker missed two fieldgoal attempts and an extra-point try before beating the Giants on a last-second kick on Sunday. He missed three field-goal attempts Thursday night, including a 31-yarder that would have cut a nine-point deficit to six with just less than six minutes to go.
With his 186th career regularseason win as a starter, Brady tied Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most by a quarterback in NFL history.
Briefly: Minnesota quarterback Sam Bradford practiced for the first time in two weeks. Also, the Vikings signed running back Stevan Ridley to replace injured rookie Dalvin Cook . ... The Chargers re-signed kicker Nick Novak, waiving rookie Younghoe Koo after four games.