Getty Tom Brady made light of needing a last-minute comeback versus a thorough route to win.
Tom Brady ironically poked fun about the manner in which his Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad rallied against the New Orleans Saints during his latest victory video.
“That was a huge win last night at home in front of a great crowd who stayed there all the way til the end,” Brady said in the video on Tuesday, December 6. “Look, three touchdown wins are overrated. We gotta leave a little drama for the end.”
Brady and the Bucs indeed left drama for the end as he led two touchdowns drives in the final three minutes of the game to win 17-16. It marked his 44th career comeback amid the most unlikely of circumstances — the fourth-most improbable comeback in six years per Next Gen Stats.
Three-touchdown wins have been non-existent for these Bucs this season. Tampa Bay hasn’t won by that margin yet this season, and the team last won by two scores in Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys. Now it’s onto an NFC favorite with a defense that’s more ferocious than the Cowboys or Saints.
“We’re back at it next Sunday in San Fran,” Brady added in his video. “West coast trip. Huge game. Let’s go.”
The San Francisco 49ers allow a league-best 15.8 points and 283.9 total yards per game.
Bucs’ Drama is Old School, Tampa Columnist Says
In a season that’s considered mediocre at best, the Bucs have won more in one category than any team in the league.
Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano pointed out that the Bucs have a 6-2 record when the team hits the 16-21 point range — a .750 winning percentage. All of the other teams in the NFL have a 35-66-4 record, a .352 winning percentage, when tallying 16-21 points, Romano wrote.
“To be fair, this isn’t a new formula. Teams used to win this type of game all the time in the 1970s,” Romano wrote. “But in the last 20 years, the 2016 Giants are the only team to have won as many as six games while scoring 21 points or less. That makes the Bucs an anomaly in today’s NFL. It means their margin for error is slim.”
“But it doesn’t mean they can’t succeed,” Romano added.
Roman noted that it could be a combination of things that have led the Bucs to this point of low-scoring, tight games such as luck and the opponents.
“Or maybe that’s partially by design with a head coach who is defensive-minded and has a beat-up, aging offense,” Romano wrote.
Rachaad White on Game Winner: ‘I Was Just Grateful’
Rookie running back Rachaad White nearly gave the game away for the Bucs on Monday with a third-quarter fumble. White later flipped the script with a game-winning touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.
“I was just grateful honestly,” White told reporters afterward. “Coach called the play. We had been working on it all week at practice. I was just grateful they called my name. I ran the route, [and] I was in the spot I was supposed to be in. Tom threw the ball, and I was just going to catch it in the end and do whatever I could to get in the end zone.”