Heading into their matchup with the Bills on Sunday, all eyes were on the duel of the star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Josh Allen. Brady as we all know is the G.O.A.T, but Josh Allen has really come into his own in recent years, and this game was a chance to prove himself against one of the best teams in the NFL. Now, I was expecting a great game from both these teams from the beginning, however, I wasn’t expecting an absolute thriller like the one they gave us Sunday.
The Bills really made it tough on the Buccaneers, even at one point scoring 17 unanswered points to tie the game up at 27 each. Josh Allen was by far the biggest thorn in the side of the Bucs defense, as he had a massive day statistically. Allen completed 36 of his 53 passing attempts and was able to register 308 yards and two touchdowns on the day. He was even lethal in the ground game, as he led all Bills players with 109 rushing yards.
Sadly, the only thing standing in Allen’s way was Tom Brady, who delivered another sublime performance. It’s getting a bit ridiculous now, seeing as the man is 44 years old and pulling things off that most 26-year-olds in the league can’t even do. I don’t know what kind of water he’s drinking, but I need some of that.
The California native put up a whopping 363 passing yards, as well as breaking a handful of records on Sunday. Brady was able to surpass Drew Brees’ all-time completions record on Sunday, as well as establishing a new mark with his 700th passing touchdown (a 58 yard overtime bomb to Breshad Perriman).
Aside from Brady, another big performance came from running back Leonard Fournette, who I called out earlier last week as he was the main component of this Bucs team beating the Bills with their run game. It’s safe to say he delivered. Fournette rushed for 113 yards on 19 carries, also scoring a touchdown in the process.
In terms of receivers, Chris Godwin had another 100-yard performance Sunday, as he posted 10 receptions for a total of 105 receiving yards. Godwin has really come into his own this year, establishing himself as the go-to deep threat Tom Brady needs when the game is on the line. With Antonio Brown currently out of the lineup, it’s nice to see Godwin stepping up for his team.
Lastly, I loved to see that the Bucs are taking fewer penalties over the past couple of games. On Sunday, the Bucs only took four penalties, for a total of 24 yards. This helped them out tremendously, as they didn’t end up losing extra yardage to the Bills who were on their heels the entire game. This newfound discipline will serve them well come playoff time, they just have to keep it up.
The Bucs are now 10-3 and take on the New Orleans Saints in their next matchup, which comes on Sunday as well. The Saints are looking to upset the Buccaneers in their own stadium much like they did last season when they came in and stomped the Bucs 38-3.
That game is still fresh in the minds of Bucs players and fans alike, so it will be nice to see if they look to avenge that loss with a trouncing of the Saints. The Saints will be starting Taysum Hill at QB, who has fit in nicely since becoming the starting quarterback in New Orleans. It will be interesting to see if he could pull a rabbit out of the hat and beat the Bucs, but I’m not counting on it.
How do you feel about the upcoming game? What will the final score be? Let me know in the comments below!