TOM Brady passed for 307 yards and two touchdowns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers halted a two-game slide with a solid 30-10 victory over the visiting New York Giants on Monday night.
Chris Godwin and Mike Evans caught touchdown passes and Ronald Jones II rushed for a score for the Buccaneers (7-3). Rob Gronkowski caught six passes for 71 yards after missing five of the previous six contests due to injured ribs, and Steve McLendon and Mike Edwards collected interceptions for Tampa Bay.
Brady completed 30 of 46 passes and was intercepted once for the Buccaneers, who are two games ahead of the New Orleans Saints in the National Football Conference (NFC) South. Tampa Bay outgained New York 402 yards to 215.
Daniel Jones connected on 23 of 38 passes for 167 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions for the Giants (3-7). The quarterback dropped to 0-8 in prime-time starts. New York’s overall skid in Monday, Thursday or Sunday night games grew to 10, the last win coming when Eli Manning guided the team to a 27-23 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 12, 2018.
Andrew Thomas caught a touchdown pass on a tackle-eligible play and Saquon Barkley (ankle) returned after a four-game absence for the Giants. Barkley gained 25 yards on six rushes and 31 yards on six receptions.
Tampa Bay moved ahead 24-10 on Brady’s 5-yard scoring pass to Evans with 7:31 left in the third quarter. Three plays later, Daniel Jones threw an interception directly to the 35-year-old McLendon, the first of the defensive tackle’s 12-year career that spans 160 games.
The Buccaneers took over at the Giants’ 37-yard line and soon increased their lead to 17 on Ryan Succop’s 40-yard field goal with 3:53 left in the period. Succop later drilled a 30-yard field goal to make it a 20-point margin with 7:44 remaining in the game.
Tampa Bay led 17-10 at half time, with the tie-breaking score coming on a 6-yard run by Ronald Jones II with 5:06 left in the half.
The Buccaneers scored first when they received the opening kickoff and eventually got a 13-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Godwin. New York’s Graham Gano kicked a 37-yard field goal with 4:04 left in the quarter, and Succop answered with a 25-yard field goal with 11:16 left in the half.
The Giants knotted the score when Daniel Jones connected with a leaping Thomas on a 2-yard scoring pass with 9:14 remaining in the half. — Reuters
