The Tampa Bay Buccaneers swept the season series with the Atlanta Falcons, 30-17, in Atlanta on Sunday and tied the record for best start in the history of the franchise.
Tom Brady passed for 368 yards, completing 38 of 51 passes, while Chris Godwin had a franchise record 15 receptions for 143 yards.
Brady found tight end Rob Gronkowski with touchdown passes of 27 and 11 yards as Tampa Bay rolled to go to a 9-3 record, which equals the starts of the 2002 and 2008 Buccaneers.
Godwin caught five passes on Tampa Bay’s first drive which ended with a three-yard TD pass from Brady to Leonard Fournette that gave the Bucs a 7-0 lead. Tampa Bay ran 13 pass plays on that drive and no rushes.
“He did a great job,” Brady said of Godwin. “He comes to work every day and is a great teammate. He is just an unbelievable player.”
Godwin never wavered in his role on Sunday as he did not have a touchdown reception. He was contributing to the team’s 9-3 start which has them already cast in the driver’s seat in the NFC South as New Orleans, Carolina and Atlanta all are at 5-7 in with five games to play.
Gronkowski’s 27-yard touchdown catch gave the Buccaneers a 20-10 lead midway through the second quarter and then his 11-yard grab made it 27-17 with 29 seconds remaining in the third.
“Having Gronk back for the last few weeks is huge in our offense,” Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said. “Those two guys controlling the inside of the field and again, putting Gronk out wide, and it’s always a mismatch if they want to play man-on- man. It’s great to have him back.”
Gronkowski finished with four catches for 59 yards. The two touchdown catches equated to 90 lifetime between Brady and Gronk, second to only the 112 between Colts quarterback Payton Manning and receiver Marvin Harrison.
“I look for him down there,” said Brady. “He is a really big target most of the game. I think what makes him so amazing is to do what he does in the run game and block defensive ends – some of the biggest and strongest guys in the world. To run routes and catch balls and be so athletic along with the endurance he has, it is just really amazing.”
Brady has an incredible 74 touchdown passes since he came aboard in Tampa at the beginning of the 2020 season. He is 47 behind Jameis Winston’s team record of 121 which Winston set from 2015-19.
The Buccaneers’ 13 consecutive passes on the opening drive was an eye-opener as the pass protection was good for Brady as he wasn’t sacked all afternoon.
“The offensive line has been great all season and we have thrown the ball more than anybody and given up the least amount of sacks,” said Brady. ‘I think everyone has a lot of trust in our protection.”
Brady went to 10-0 lifetime against Atlanta as he is best remembered for rallying the Patriots from a 28-3 deficit against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI into a 34-28 overtime win.
“It’s a great organization and I didn’t play much against them with the Patriots and the last couple of years we played pretty good against them,” said Brady. “Last year we had a really tough game against them. We were down a bunch of points and we came out at half and started the whole second part of our season playing them here.”