It’s been an up-and-down season for Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who started with a 32-21 road loss to the New Orleans Saints, rebounded to win three straight, lost 20-19 on the road to the Chicago Bears, and then won three straight games again. This week, they wound up in some early trouble in a home game against the Saints on Sunday Night Football, and a rare interception from Brady played a role there.
The Buccaneers’ first four possessions ended in punts, and they even wasted a fumble from the Saints (who went touchdown-fumble-touchdown-touchdown on their first four drives). And that put Brady in unusual territory:
Tom Brady now trails by 21+ points in a game for the first time (including playoffs) since Week 10, 2018 against the Titans.
The last time he overcame such a deficit to win? The infamous "28-3" comeback over the Falcons in Super Bowl LI https://t.co/XTLMCQhAZD
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) November 9, 2020
But Tampa Bay’s fifth drive was worse still, with Brady throwing a pass that was tipped and then intercepted by New Orleans defensive tackle David Onyemata:
Tipped twice and it's a BIG MAN INT. #Saints
📺: #NOvsTB on NBC
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/6yfKIAre48 pic.twitter.com/4szsJV0ixz— NFL (@NFL) November 9, 2020
That was just Brady’s fifth interception of the year, and three of those have come in his two games against New Orleans. And this latest pick led to yet another Saints’ touchdown, putting them up 28-0 early in the second quarter. Oh, and three of those touchdowns were on passes from Drew Brees, putting him ahead again in the back-and-forth battle with Brady for the career touchdown lead. We’ll see where that battle, and this game, goes from here.
[NFL.com; photo by Kim Klement/USA Today Sports]
