Tom Brady throws five touchdowns as Bucs rally to beat Chargers
It was just another comeback for the ageless.
Forty-three-year-old quarterback Tom Brady and the Bucs were trailing 24-7, took the lead, saw it erased, then had to come-from-behind again.
Brady threw five touchdowns to as many receivers and the Bucs outlasted the Chargers 38-31 in a shootout with rookie Justin Herbert. Carlton Davis’ interception with 2:22 remaining sealed things for the Bucs.
Brady’s fifth touchdown pass, a 9-yarder to rookie Ke’Shawn Vaughn, gave the Bucs the lead with 11:05 remaining in the game.
The five TD passes tied a club record held by four other quarterbacks. Brady finished 30-of-46 for 369 yards passing.
Brady gave the Bucs their first lead by hitting Scotty Miller on passes of 45 yards and 19 yards, the second for a touchdown to start the fourth quarter.
But that was before Herbert spotted Jalen Guyton behind Sean Murphy-Bunting and hung out a pass that he corralled and ran into the end zone for a 72-yard scoring play to re-take the lead 31-28.
The Bucs were awful in the first half. Other than taking the opening kickoff 75 yards and a 7-0 lead on Brady’s 3-yard TD pass to Cameron Brate, they didn’t do much right.
Herbert, making only his third start, connected on a 53-yard touchdown pass to Tyron Johnson to tie the score.
Then Brady tried to hit Justin Watson on an out route, and Chargers cornerback Michael Davis intercepted the pass, returning it 78 yards for a touchdown.
It was the fourth interception and second pick-six of the season for Brady.
Trailing 14-7, Davis committed a pass interference penalty on Keenan Allen on third and 8 from the Chargers 43-yard line. That gave Herbert new life and he used it to throw a 19-yard TD pass to Donald Parham Jr. for a 21-7 lead.
Even special teams got into the act. Kicker Ryan Succop missed a 44-yard field goal wide left with 4:54 left in the first half.
That was enough time for Herbert to drive the Chargers to within scoring distance again. Michael Badgley connected on a 53-yard field goal to make it 24-7 with less than two minutes remaining in the half.
Then came the break the Bucs didn’t count on.
The Chargers just wanted to run out the clock and get to the locker room. But with ball on the 9-yard line, running back Joshua Kelley was stripped by Ndamukong Suh, and Devin White recovered at the Chargers’ 6.
Three plays later, Brady lofted a pass high to Evans in the back of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown.
A sack of Herbert by safety Jordan Whitehead got the ball back for the Bucs to start the second half. Brady trimmed the lead to 24-21 with his 28-yard touchdown pass to O.J. Howard, capping a 69-yard drive in eight plays.