Tom Brady Nearly Perfect In First Quarter Vs. Eagles, En Route To Buccaneers Victory

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- The national broadcast of Thursday night's Buccaneers-Eagles game began with a few notes on Tom Brady. One involved the 44-year-old quarterback playing on a short week after injuring his thumb on Sunday. The other explained that Brady had just turned in the best four-game stretch of his entire career.

Brady took the field vs. the Eagles and immediately showed that his thumb was not a problem at all ... and he wasn't done extending this remarkable stretch of football.

The man went ahead and had a nearly perfect first quarter.

The quarterback took the field and completed his first three passes of the night: to Antonio Brown for nine yards, to Mike Evans for 22 yards, and to Chris Godwin for 16 yards.

Brady's fourth pass was technically incomplete, though Brown did make the catch, just a step out of bounds.

Brady did complete his next pass -- a 10-yarder to Godwin -- and then threw a 2-yard touchdown to O.J. Howard. The touch on that pass pretty.

Brady was 5-for-6 for 59 yards and a touchdown on that drive.

But he was better on the next one.

After the Eagles went on a touchdown drive (largely aided by Bucs penalties), Brady completed an eight-yard pass to Leonard Fournette, an eight-yard pass to Godwin, a three-yard pass to Fournette, and a nine-yard pass to Ronald Jones. Already 4-for-4 for 48 yards on the drive, Brady took a snap on a first-and-10 at the Philadelphia 23-yard line.

The Eagles rushed four and dropped seven into zone coverage. But Brady calmly stepped out of the pocket, and Brown found a gaping hole in that zone.

After perhaps doing a double-take at how wide open his receiver was, Brady delivered a strike to Brown, who made the catch, turned, and crossed the goal line.

At that point, Brady was 11-for-12 for 121 yards and two touchdowns. That is a decently successful quarter of work.

He did go 2-for-3 for six yards on the next drive, but the offense came up short on third-and-11, leading to a punt.

On his next drive, Brady threw to Cameron Brate, and the pass was tipped and then intercepted. However, after a very long review, the NFL overturned the call on the field, ruling it incomplete and saving Brady from his third interception of the season and first interception since Week 1. Still, the nearly perfect night was officially over.

Though, when he next got the ball, Brady went 6-for-7 for 63 yards before handing off for Fournette for the Bucs' third touchdown of the night.

With one more possession before halftime, Brady aired it out on a third-and-15, but overthrew Brown deep down the field for an interception. This one counted, serving as the standard "essentially-a-punt" pick for the Bucs offense.

So, before halftime, Brady was 19-for-25 for 190 yards with two touchdowns and the interception. Brady completed a pass for a loss of four yards before the game officially went to halftime, with the home fans heartily booing the Eagles.

Brady's second half wasn't remarkable, but he led a drive in the final minutes that allowed the Bucs to drain the final 5:54 off the clock to win, 28-22. A QB sneak on a third-and-1 at the Philadelphia 9-yard line gave the Bucs the final first down they needed. Brady was 34-for-42 for 297 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the game, and the Buccaneers improved to 5-1.

Brady entered this game ranked second in the NFL in touchdowns with 15, one behind Patrick Mahomes. He also entered as the NFL's leader in passing yards with 1,767 -- 162 more yards than Derek Carr in second place. He quickly took the lead in touchdowns and added to that lead in yardage.

Having this type of season -- and having that first quarter -- at any age would be impressive. That he's doing it age 44, an age where the only QBs crazy enough to even try to play have failed badly, makes it all the more ridiculous.

We keep saying that, yes. But he also keeps demanding that we do so.

In:
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• NFL
• Tom Brady