Brady delivers two late touchdowns
TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final three minutes Monday night, helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rally from a 13-point deficit to beat the New Orleans Saints, 17-16, and tighten their grip on first place in the weak NFC South.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion tossed a 1-yard TD pass to rookie Cade Otton, finishing a 91-yard drive to pull within 16-10 with exactly three minutes remaining. He got the ball back with 2:29 to go, then won it with a 6-yard throw to another rookie, Rachaad White, with three seconds left.
It was Brady’s 44th victory in a game his team trailed in the fourth quarter, passing Peyton Manning for the most all-time.
Andy Dalton threw for 225 yards and a touchdown without an interception for New Orleans, but the Saints ultimately paid for having to settle for three field goals by Wil Lutz on drives deep into Bucs territory.
The Bucs (6-6) extended their division lead on Atlanta to 1½ games. The last-place Saints (4-9) missed out on a chance to pull into a tie for second. None of the four teams in the NFC South has a winning record.
Brady finished 36 of 54 for 281 yards and two touchdowns.
A week after being shutout for the first time in 332 games, the Saints built a 10-3 halftime lead on Dalton’s 30-yard scoring pass to Taysom Hill and a 38yard field goal set up by just the third interception Brady has thrown all season.
Demario Davis’s pick was also only the eighth takeaway by the New Orleans defense — by far the league low — in 13 games. Defensive end Cameron Jordan later forced a fumble that the Saints turned into a 12-play, 7:20 drive that Lutz finished with a 21-yard field goal, making it 13-3 late in the third quarter.