Brady’s cameo at WR fails but Bucs beat Seattle in front of noisy German crowd
Tom Brady looks like he will be staying as a quarterback for the time being after his attempt to fill in at wide receiver ended in predictable fashion on Sunday.
The 45-year-old, who was not noted for his speed even in his younger days, lined up as a receiver with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers leading the Seattle Seahawks 14-0 in the third quarter of their game in Munich. Brady was presumably acting as a decoy as Leonard Fournette took the snap. But the running back decided to throw to Brady, who slipped on the turf as Seattle’s Tariq Woolen gobbled up an easy interception. Brady also famously dropped a catch when he was quarterback of the New England Patriots in their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles In Super Bowl LII.
The rest of Sunday’s game went much better for Brady, who stayed undefeated abroad by throwing two touchdown passes to help the Bucs to a 21-16 victory.
Brady connected with Julio Jones and Chris Godwin on scoring passes and Fournette ran one in as the Bucs (5-5) improved to .500 and snapped Seattle’s four-game winning streak.
German fans made plenty of noise as they packed Allianz Arena for the country’s first-ever NFL regular season game and the Bucs delivered with a balanced offensive performance on three long scoring drives. Rachaad White started and ran for 105 yards on 22 carries.
Brady completed 22 of 29 passes for 258 yards to add Germany to his list of international wins after victories in London (twice) and Mexico City with the New England Patriots.
Trailing 21-3, Seattle’s Geno Smith threw touchdown passes to Tyler Lockett and Marquise Goodwin to make the score 21-16 with 3:58 to play, but the Tampa hung on to victory.
Smith was 23 of 33 for 275 yards and the two touchdowns for the Seahawks (6-4), who are still atop the NFC West.
Tampa linebacker Devin White was excellent, playing days just after his father died.
“It was very hard to play,” White said. “Just a lot of emotions. But I tried to turn them into good emotions and just keep a great spirit. That’s the relationship we had – just all about ball, all about just going out there and being the best and just getting this thing turned around.”