When the Tampa Bay Bucs win their first-ever regular-season game in Germany, Tom Brady creates history.
Over the course of his lengthy and remarkable NFL career, Tom Brady has grown accustomed to creating history. Additionally, the 45-year-old made more global history on Sunday by setting more historic records.
In Germany’s Allianz Arena, Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21–16 in the NFL’s inaugural regular season matchup.
Brady’s victory made history as the first quarterback to win an NFL game in three non-US nations.
Brady participated in three international games as a New England Patriot; two were held in Mexico City and one in London. He won all three.
And now that Germany has joined the list, the NFL’s most decorated player can add yet another trophy to his growing collection.
Brady called the atmosphere at Bayern Munich’s home stadium, the Allianz Arena, “pretty electric” following the victory.
“The atmosphere was fantastic,” he said to the NFL Network. The atmosphere before the game seemed quite intense as we warmed up.
“I hope the German fans got what they wanted because it was pretty electric.” Our team won big; we really needed it. Our defense performed admirably against a formidable foe, and I’m happy we managed to grind it out and prevail.
Brady, who had had a difficult season before, looked much more like himself on Sunday. He found Julio Jones for a 31-yard touchdown pass, and Leonard Fournette ran for another as the Buccaneers jumped out to a 14-0 lead.
The Bucs were ahead 14-3 in the third quarter and tried to go all out. Fournette tried to pass to Brady, but Tariq Woolen intercepted him after Brady slipped.
And with the score at 21-3 early in the fourth quarter, Chris Godwin appeared to have sealed the victory after receiving a four-yard touchdown pass from Brady.
But the German fans had plenty of excitement to take home after the Seahawks made a late comeback.
After less than eight minutes, Tyler Lockett’s touchdown cut the lead to five. Seattle then took advantage of Brady’s careless interception of Cody Barton, as Marquise Goodwin caught a touchdown pass from Seattle quarterback Geno Smith with less than four minutes remaining.
Smith completed the afternoon with two touchdown passes and 275 passing yards.
But just when they needed it, Tampa Bay’s running prowess—Rachaad White ran for a career-high 105 yards—produced a time-killing drive to end the game and earn the team’s fifth and second consecutive victory.
Now leading the NFC South going into their bye week, the Bucs appear much more like the team that was expected to contend for a Super Bowl ring.
The Seahawks, who had a strong season opener, end up with a 6-4 record, but they can still feel proud of themselves for their late-game rallying cry.
