Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette turned in another all-around game in their 30-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Fournette ran the ball 13 times for 44 yards and added 7 catches for 48 yards and a one-handed touchdown catch in the first quarter as the Buccaneers improved to an NFC South-best 9-3 mark. This season, Fournette emerged as another pass-catching option for quarterback Tom Brady. In the last four games, Fournette had 28 catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns. On his Twitter account, Fournette had a funny post about catching passes from the 44-year-old Brady.

He posted a video of a kid working out and accompanied it with the caption “This how I prepare my mind when I’m running routes knowing Brady might throw it 100 mph” and eight tears of joy emojis.

This season, Fournette has taken over the role of lead back, relegating Ronald Jones as 2nd option for the Buccaneers. Fournette has 152 carries for 665 yards and seven touchdowns and has 58 catches for 402 yards and two scores in 12 games this season. With Fournette’s help, the Buccaneers are riding a three-game winning streak that includes back-to-back road wins and are No.

3 seed in the NFC playoff race, one game behind the Arizona Cardinals.

Brady boosts MVP case

According to Luke Easterling of USA Today, Brady has relaunched his bid for a fourth Most Valuable Player trophy after his performance against the Falcons. In the past three games, Brady averaged less than 300 yards and two touchdowns per outing, but against the Falcons, he threw for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns as he improved to 10-0 against Atlanta, including postseason.

Brady currently leads the league in both passing yards (3,771) and touchdown passes (34) and is completing over 68 percent of his passes this season, making him a favorite for the MVP trophy. Entering Week 13, Brady was the leader in betting odds for the MVP trophy, besting young quarterbacks such as Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, Kyler Murray of the Cardinals, Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboy and veteran Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams.

Sherman could return as safety

Per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, cornerback Richard Sherman could return to practice this week after missing several games following a calf injury that he sustained while warming up for their Week 7 game. According to Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians the 33-year-old Sherman could be activated in the near future but in a different role. The veteran head coach said Sherman could play safety once he is back on the field. Against the Falcons, Arians started Antoine Winfield Jr. and Andrew Adams after Jordan Whitehead missed the game with a calf injury. In 2018, Sherman said that transitioning to safety would allow him to play until he’s 35.
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