Live updates: Tom Brady connects with Gronk for 48-yard catch, but Buccaneers can’t get in end zone
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Tom Brady and the Buccaneers face the Chiefs on Sunday.
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Third quarter: Two INTs for Brady
Tom Brady launched a perfect pass to Scott Miller with five minutes to go in the third quarter. Only problem: The Chiefs’ Bashaud Breeland caught it for the interception.
When Brady got back onto the field after his defense forced a three-and-out, Brady opted for a short pass to Antonio Brown and two hand-offs to Ronald Jones.
On second down of the second series of the drive, Brady tried to complete another pass – this time to Mike Evans. The short throw never made it there, with Chiefs cornerback Tyrann Mathieu swooping in for the Chiefs’ second interception of the quarter.
Brady has thrown seven interceptions in his last four games.
Third quarter: Hill rakes in another TD
Wait … Tyreek Hill has how many touchdowns?
The speedy receiver hauled in his third touchdown of the game with seven minutes to go in the third quarter to put the Chiefs up 27-10.
With more than a quarter-and-a-half to play, Hill has 261 yards receiving.
Third quarter: Brady connects with Gronk
Facing a 20-7 deficit coming out of the half, Brady found ex-Patriots batterymate Rob Gronkowski on back-to-back downs on their first drive of the quarter.
Gronkowski reeled in a 48-yard pass and hustled along the sideline to put the Buccaneers in the red zone.
The Buccaneers couldn’t finish it out, and settled for a field goal to make it 20-10.
The sequence put Gronkowski above 100 yards receiving for the first time as a Buccaneer. The last time he had more than 100 yards receiving was … any guesses?
Time’s up. It was Dec. 12, 2018, when the Patriots lost to the Dolphins, 34-33, ahead of their drive to another Super Bowl trophy.
Halftime: Chiefs 20, Buccaneers 7
Right after allowing the Buccaneers’ first touchdown, the Chiefs marched down the field to pad their lead before halftime with a 29-yard field goal with 14 seconds left.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has passed for 359 yards – 210 to Tyreek Hill – and Kansas City’s explosive offense has marched up and down the field on the Buccaneers. The Chiefs are going almost entirely through the air, and have gained just 23 of their 377 total yards on the ground.
Brady has thrown for 110 yards, hitting 10 of 16 passes in the first half.
The Chiefs have held the ball for almost nine minutes more than the Buccaneers in the first half.
Second quarter: Bucs finally get something going
The Buccaneers capitalized on a fumble recovery by going 86 yards for a touchdown. Ronald Jones caught a pass from Tom Brady and was able to stay inbounds as he tip-toed along the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown play that cut the Chiefs’ lead to 17-7 with 4:29 left before halftime.
The Chiefs had driven into the red zone, but Patrick Mahomes fumbled and the Bucs took over at their own 14. Brady engineered a seven-play drive to get Tampa Bay back in the game. A key play was a classic Brady over the middle to tight end Rob Gronkowski for 29 yards.
First quarter: Chiefs 17, Buccaneers 0
Another Patrick Mahomes to Tyreek Hill touchdown pass play has added to the Chiefs’ lead. This time it was a 44-yard connection to cap a seven-play drive that began on the Chiefs’ 10-yard line.
Hill had seven receptions on seven targets for 203 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter. If you have him on your fantasy team, well, today’s your day. Hopefully you started him.
Meanwhile, Brady and the Buccaneers have gone three-and-out on each of their last four possessions, and their first possession of the game lasted just five plays. Brady has connected on five of 10 passes for 32 yards.
First quarter: Big play adds to Chiefs’ lead
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and receiver Tyreek Hill connected on a 75-yard touchdown pass play that put Kansas City up, 10-0. The big play came on first down after the Buccaneers had gone three-and-out on their second possession.
Mahomes threw the ball from just short of his own 20, and Hill caught it just inside the Bucs’ 25, then sprinted untouched into the end zone.
First quarter: Chiefs score on opening drive
Brady’s first action in this one will come with him team already in a hole after the Chiefs took the opening kickoff and covered 64 yards on eight plays to get into field goal range for a 3-0 lead.
Inactives
Buccaneers: QB Ryan Griffin, RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn, CB Jamel Dean, LB Jack Cichy, G John Molchon, TE Tanner Hudson.
Chiefs: CB BoPete Keyes, LB Darius Harris, TE Ricky Seals-Jones, DE Tim Ward, DT Khalen Saunders
Setting the scene
Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have dropped two of their last three games, and Brady’s performance has been a key factor in those losses.
Brady connected on less than 58 percent of his passes in a Week 9 loss to the Saints and a Week 11 loss to the Rams, and five of his attempts connected with the other team in those losses. Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians was direct in his assessment of Brady.
“Other than the deep ball, I think he’s getting confused a few times with coverages that might be causing some inaccurate balls,” Arians said. “I don’t see it at all in practice. We’re not missing the deep ball at all in practice — that’s for sure. It’s just a matter on Sundays of hitting them.”
NFL scoreboard
Now he faces the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs on Sunday (4:25 p.m., CBS). Tampa Bay is 7-4 entering Week 12, and has a bye scheduled for Week 13.
The Chiefs are 9-1 and on a five-game win streak since their only loss, a 40-32 defeat at the hands of the Raiders in October that was avenged last week in Las Vegas. The Chiefs lead the league in scoring average (32.1), are tied for the league lead in touchdowns with 40, and third in the NFL in yards per game at 414.1 behind the Colts (414.9) and Cardinals (414.3).
We’ll post updates here.
Pregame reading suggestions
Tara Sullivan: Brady dealing with rare criticism, and other thoughts
Chad Finn: Another dangerous quarterback on tap for Patriots’ defense
Ben Volin: Brady may be relying too much on deep passes, and it’s not working
Bucs-Chiefs preview
From The Associated Press:
The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t buying all the talk about Tom Brady’s struggles. They insist he’s still playing at a high level and will have to be at their best to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The reigning Super Bowl champions (9-1) visit the Bucs (7-4) on Sunday, with Patrick Mahomes facing Brady for the fourth time in his young career and Brady looking to shrug off a couple of subpar performances against playoff contenders.
“You can’t take anything away from Tom Brady. He’s still very smart, he’s still trying to throw the ball downfield, he still has the weapons. We’ll have our hands full,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said.
“He’s played against our system a number of times, even going back to New England,” Mathieu added. “He’s familiar with us. Now we have to get familiar with him and the weapons he has.”
Brady won two of the previous three matchups against Mahomes, including an overtime thriller in the AFC championship game two seasons ago.
The six-time Super Bowl champion played poorly in home losses to New Orleans and the Los Angeles Rams two of the past three weeks. Still, Kansas City coach Andy Reid cautioned against anyone writing off the 43-year-old quarterback.
Despite Brady’s recent struggles, particularly on deep passes, the Bucs have already matched their victory total from all of last season and remain in prime position to end a 12-year playoff drought that’s the second longest in the NFL.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s a great player, a Hall of Fame player. We’re lucky enough to have a chance to be in this era where we get to play him,” Reid said.
“He’s old, and it’s hard to tell he’s old,” Reid added. “And that’s a tribute to how he takes care of himself, and the care and living he does all the way around, from diet to workout to everything.”
The Chiefs have won five straight, the eighth consecutive year they’ve had a streak at least that long.
They avenged their lone loss last week a 35-31 victory at Las Vegas, with Mahomes throwing for 348 yards and two TDs.
Mahomes, who’s thrown for just over 312 yards per game with 14 TDs and one interception during Kansas City’s winning streak, was as surprised as anyone that Brady left the Patriots to sign with Tampa Bay in free agency last March.
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“But he’s in a great spot. They’ve got a lot of weapons there,” Mahomes said. “I don’t think it’s going to feel very much different. It’s still a very good football team that’s playing really good football and winning a lot of games. I know it’s going to be a really big challenge for us.”
Brady threw a pair of costly interceptions and was 0 for 6 on passes traveling at least 20 yards in last week’s 27-24 loss to the Rams. He’s 0 for 19 on such throws over the past three games, which includes a 38-3 loss to the Saints.
The struggles have raised questions about whether the offense Brady is being asked to run following a historic 20-year stint with the Patriots is suited to what he does best.
Bucs coach Bruce Arians concedes the offense has been inconsistent, but attributes that to a lack of continuity caused in part by teams not having a usual offseason due to the coronavirus pandemic and injuries that have forced lineup changes and limited practice time for some players.
“He can do anything, so it’s not like he can’t do it,” Arians said, responding to critics who suggest the problem is the offensive scheme, which stresses pushing the ball downfield.
“We’ve had the guys open. We’ve just missed them,” Arians said.
“Each and every week is so different, but when they’re there, we need to hit them,” the coach added. “We can’t have them going off our fingertips, and we can’t overthrow them.”
Brady has lots of good things to say about Mahomes and the Chiefs, who lead the league in scoring at 32.1 points per game.
“He’s a terrific player, obviously. … They’ve got their offense rolling,” Brady said. “I feel continuity is probably the most critical aspect of consistent performance. … They’ve been in that system for a while. Coach Reid’s been there for a while. He’s a great coach. … They’ve been tough to beat for a lot of years now.”