TAMPA, Florida – The “Tommy and Gronky” show with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski picked it up just where he left off just seven months and two days ago: with two touchdowns or “tuddies.” as they call them, coinciding with their two Super Bowl LV “plushies,” in a fascinating 31-29 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL pitching game Thursday night.
Brady’s 11-yard third-quarter strike against Gronkowski was the pair’s 100th touchdown connection together: the first time a quarterback and tight end have scored 100 points, placing them just behind Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison (114) for most touchdown connections. Of all time.
But unlike the Super Bowl, where the Tampa Bay defense orchestrated a closeout from Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City bosses, the Buccaneers needed Brady and Gronkowski to lead them. The 44-year-old, who started his 300th game of the race, threw 379 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions, with Gronkowski in 90 yards and Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin eclipsing 100 yards.
Brady also orchestrated an 11- and 57-yard play with 1:22 at the end of the fourth quarter to establish the game’s winning field goal.
Closing Ezekiel Elliott and making the Cowboys one-dimensional – the goal of Bucs ’defense all week – only meant quarterback Dak Prescott could show off his talented receiver trio to Michael Gallup, CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper, throwing 403 yards and three. touchdowns. Even in the absence of Cowboys center Zack Martin due to COVID-19, and no preseason due to his recovery from ankle and shoulder injuries, Prescott cleared the Bucks defense, which caused that many of his bombings were ineffective.
To make matters worse, the Bucs lost cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting in the first quarter to an elbow injury and the Cowboys repeatedly picked third quarterback Jamel Dean. The Bucs were also without strong safety to Jordan Whitehead, who was left out of the game with a hamstring injury.
They made enough timely plays, though the game almost literally slipped away at the end of the fourth quarter, when Godwin turned to the end zone and coughed the ball into the 2-yard line. This created a Dallas boost that ended with a 48-yard field goal from Greg Zuerlein to give the Cowboys a 29-28 lead in the absence of 1:29.
Tampa Bay’s win improved the Super Bowl champions to 38-16-1 in the early stages of the season.