Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady completed 41 of 55 passes for 432 yards and a touchdown in a losing effort – a 34-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 on Sunday at SoFi Stadium. With his performance, the 44-year-old Brady now has 80,291 passing yards, just 68 shy from breaking the all-time record set by Drew Brees (80,358 yards), per Matt Vautour of MassLive.com. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Brady is expected to set a new record when the Buccaneers try to bounce back in their second road game of the season against his former team, the New England Patriots, at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
The Patriots earlier suffered a 28-13 loss to the Buccaneers’ NFC South rival, the New Orleans Saints. The loss dropped the Buccaneers to a share of 2nd place with the Saints with identical 2-1 records.
Brady also led the team in rushing yards
Aside from passing for more than 400 yards in his first career game in Los Angeles, Brady was also the top rusher for the Buccaneers in their first loss of the season, running the ball three times for 14 yards and a score. The entire Buccaneers backfield of Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette combined for just 19 yards on nine carries. After throwing nine touchdowns in his first two games, Brady did not throw his first scoring strike against the Rams until late in the 4th quarter when he found running back Giovani Bernard for a 7-yard strike with the game all under wraps.
Mike Evans finished with eight catches for 106 yards, Chris Godwin had six receptions for 74 yards, while Tyler Johnson had three catches for 64 yards for the Buccaneers, who saw their 10-game winning streak dating back to last season come to an end. Matthew Stafford threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns as the Rams remained undefeated in three games, per Jarrett Bell of USA Today.
Brady to square off with Jones next week
Aside from eclipsing Brees’ record, Brady has a chance to become the fourth quarterback in NFL history to beat all 32 NFL teams when he goes up against the New England Patriots on Sunday. Brady will go up against a quarterback who is almost half his age in 23-year-old Mac Jones, the Patriots’ first-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Jones earned the starting quarterback job after the Patriots waived veteran Cam Newton, who led New England to a 7-9 record last season following Brady’s exit from the team. Brady played for 20 seasons with the Patriots and won six Super Bowl rings before he signed a two-year deal worth $50 million with the Buccaneers last offseason. In their loss to the Saints, Jones completed 30 for 51 for 270 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions, per Jake Levin of NBC Sports Boston. Brady’s former Patriots teammate, wide receiver Julian Edelman, is looking forward to the quarterback’s return to Foxborough, but he will still root for New England.
