By Valerie Wardlaw – The defending Super Bowl champions (4-1) took care of business on Sunday routing the beleaguered Miami Dolphins (1-4) in a 45-17 win. While Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady reaffirmed his G.O.A.T. status, the day clearly belonged to wide receiver Antonio Brown, 33. Brown’s explosive play resulted in seven passes for 124 yards with AB finding the endzone twice in the second quarter. Brady described Brown’s performance as “pretty amazing – he’s shown a lot of mental toughness, a lot of resilience. Everyone just wants to see him succeed.” For his part, Brown expressed gratitude on his ability to continue to play the game, “I continue to show and prove my love for the game and today was awesome to put it on display,” Brown said in his post-game interview. AB joined the likes of Julio Jones and Jerry Rice as the only players in league history with 12,000 career receiving yards in fewer than 150 games.
Joining Brown in Sunday’s rout were running backs Giovani Bernard, 29, who scored on a 10-yard pass from Brady early in the first quarter, and wide receiver Mike Evans, 28, averaging 113 yards for two touchdowns including a 34-yard touchdown pass from Brady, his fifth touchdown pass of the day. Brady to Evans connected twice in the fourth quarter before Brady was eventually pulled from the game as the Bucs pulled away from the Dolphins. Leonard Fournette, 26, the Bucs running back extraordinaire scored on a 5-yard run also in the fourth quarter.
Buccaneers QB Tom Brady, 44, threw for 411 yards completing 30-of-41passes to nine different receivers resulting in five touchdowns with zero turnovers. Brady put his week four performance in the rear-view mirror with a career first, throwing for more than 400 yards and five touchdowns in the same game. Brady currently leads the NFL in both passing touchdowns and yards.
The Miami Dolphins continued to struggle without starting QB Tua Tagovailoa, 23, who was placed on injured reserve with a broken rib suffered against the Buffalo Bills in the Dolphins second game of the season. Jacoby Brissett, 28, filling in for the ailing Tagovailoa completed 27-of-39 passes for 275-yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Brissett suffered a hamstring injury during Sunday’s matchup but remained in the game. Tagovailoa is expected to return to practice next week.
Next up for the Buccaneers, a Thursday night matchup at Philadelphia with the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
Be the first to comment