EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Tom Brady has felt uncomfortable against the New York Giants before. Most notably in a couple of Super Bowl losses.
He recognized Monday night’s 25-23 victory by his Tampa Bay Buccaneers wasn’t very artistic. At least, for the star quarterback, it had a better ending.
“We obviously didn’t play the way we’re capable of, but it was good to get a win,” Brady said.
Lacklustre for much of the game, Brady did what he does best in the second half. He threw touchdowns passes to Rob Gronkowski and Mike Evans, giving him the career lead in TD throws once more.
The Saints’ Drew Brees had passed Brady on Sunday, but now the six-time Super Bowl champ is back on top with 561. Evans’ diving 8-yard catch provided the go-ahead points.
But Tampa Bay (6-2) had to sweat it out. Daniel Jones drove New York (1-7) 70 yards in 13 plays and connected with Golden Tate for a 19-yard touchdown with 28 seconds remaining. The 2-point conversion failed as the officials picked up a flag presumably for defensive pass interference.
“You never apologize for winning,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “We made the plays that counted.”
Brady and Gronkowski earlier combined for a 3-yard scoring pass on which Gronk barely held onto the ball long enough. That made the old New England combination second in TDs for a duo with 93, 21 behind Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison of the Colts.
Unable to connect with Evans on a 2-point conversion, Brady still had the Bucs on top 15-14.
After New York went back ahead on Graham Gano’s 33-yard field goal, Daniel Jones was pressured into an unwise throw to Tate that Sean Murphy-Bunting picked off at the Tampa 33. That set the stage for the 66-yard drive to the touchdown by Evans.
Jones had two costly picks, helping negate a strong effort by New York’s defence.
“The interceptions were huge for us,” Brady said.
“The young quarterback, he’s still trying to do too much,” Arians added.
First-year Giants coach Joe Judge, who won three Super Bowls in New England with Brady, is not discouraged by the team’s record halfway through its schedule.
“I see a lot of improvement, our guys improving day by day,” first-year coach Joe Judge said. “We have a good foundation. I see the core of a team that is developing.”
New York got an early break _ and soon after a touchdown _ when Brady’s pass was tipped by Dalvin Tomlinson and caught by Bucs running back Ronald Jones. But he fumbled when hit by Blake Martinez and rookie Darnay Holmes recovered at the Tampa Bay 12.
Dion Lewis’ made a sliding catch in the corner of the end zone on third down for a 7-3 lead.
Ronald Jones was a nonfactor the rest of the half as Leonard Fournette got most of the action.
The Giants’ next scoring drive was a model of efficiency, featuring two gains of 11 yards, a 12-yarder, a 14-yarder and a 17-yard run by Wayne Gallman. He scored from the 2 to finish the 10-play series that covered 77 yards for a 14-3 lead.
Brady, as has been his custom for two decades, then guided his team to a score, but it was merely Ryan Succop’s second of four field goals, a 40-yarder with 7 seconds left in the half. Succop also had a 37-yard field goal on the game’s opening drive, a 43-yarder set up by Carlton Davis’ interception in early in the third quarter, and a 38-yarder with 3:41 to go for what turned out to be the decisive points.
Soon after Succop had made it 14-9, Gronkowski was in the end zone _ only to see Daniel Jones connect with his tight end, Evan Engram, for a 30-yard play. That set up Gano’s 33-yard kick and the 17-15 New York lead heading into the fourth period.
But that’s usually Brady time.
STATS PACK
Brady finished 28 for 40 for 279 yards, while Jones was 25 for 41 for 256 yards. … Evans led Tampa Bay with five catches for 55 yards, and Gronkowski wound up with four receptions for 41 yards. … Former Giants DE Jason Pierre-Paul had one sack among his five tackles … Giants WR Sterling Shepard had eight receptions for 74 yards.
THROWBACK
The Giants donned uniforms similar to what the 1990 Super Bowl title team wore, white jerseys, and pants with blue and red stripes, a GIANTS helmet decal instead of the familiar “ny,” and white facemasks replacing the customary gray.
NEXT UP
Buccaneers: host Saints in battle for top spot in the NFC South. New Orleans beat Tampa Bay in the season opener 34-23.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
