Tom Brady Threw Two Touchdowns In The Final Three Minutes To Beat The Saints

The NFC South entered Monday night with all four teams below .500, with the Bucs facing the Saints with a chance to get back to 6-6 on the season and take a near stranglehold on the dismal division.

However, deep into the fourth quarter the Bucs had only managed to put up three points on the Saints, and after a Saints field goal with eight minutes to play, Tampa trailed 16-3 with little going for it. After punting twice from midfield on what seemed like bizarre decisions from Todd Bowles, Tom Brady expressed his displeasure on the sidelines and it seemed like Brady’s expletive-filled rant on the bench might be the biggest story of the game.

After the Bucs defense forced a punt, with the Saints failing to take much time off the clock with poor situational awareness, Brady was able to march Tampa down the field for the first time all game and find the end zone with three minutes to play on a touchdown pass to Cade Otton.

Once again, the Saints offense turtled up with a three-yard run followed by a brutal sack that set them back at 3rd and 17, as the Bucs called timeout.

Andy Dalton would then throw the best pass of the night from either QB, finding Taysom Hill up the seam for what would’ve been a first down if not for Keanu Neal flying in and lighting up Hill with a clean hit right on the ball to dislodge it and force a punt. At that point, every Saints fan knew what was coming as the Bucs took the ball and began a march down the field. After this incredible catch from Julio Jones got them inside the 10, a Bucs go-ahead score felt inevitable and the Saints called a timeout to try and get the defense a breather and, if needed, get at least a little time for the offense if Tampa scored on the next play.

The Bucs did just that on a rocket from Brady to Chris Godwin, but it got called back by a hold and suddenly the Saints had life once again. However, all that did was delay the pain, as Brady eventually found Rachaad White for the game-winning touchdown with three seconds to play on a well-run choice route that got him enough space to fight across the goal line.

Ryan Succop would make the all-important extra point to put Tampa up 17-16, and New Orlean’s last-gasp attempt at pitchy pitchy woo woo didn’t get anywhere as time expired and the Bucs escaped with a win and took a 1.5-game lead on the Falcons for the NFC South lead.