Tom Brady and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a lot of work to do during their Week 13 bye.
The Bucs suffered a 27-24 defeat to the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday afternoon's Week 12 game at Raymond James Stadium. The loss drops the Buccaneers to 7-5 and moves them down into the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoff race and 2.5 games behind the New Orleans Saints for first place in the NFC South.
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Brady was outplayed by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and that was the difference in the outcome. Mahomes put up videogame-like stats, tallying 462 passing yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also completed 37 of his 49 pass attempts. Brady, meanwhile, threw for 345 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Chiefs quickly jumped out to a 17-0 lead, and the Buccaneers finally got on the scoreboard late in the second quarter when Brady found running back Ronald Jones for a 37-yard touchdown.
The Buccaneers opened the second half with a field goal to trim the Chiefs' lead to 20-10. Kansas City responded with a touchdown to increase its advantage to 27-10, and that's where the game started to slip away from Tampa Bay.
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Brady was intercepted on the Buccaneers' next two possessions.
The first interception was a nice play by Chiefs defensive back Beshaud Breeland, who was covering Bucs wideout Scotty Miller.
The second interception was a bit unlucky as the ball deflected off a player near the line of scrimmage and went up in the air before landing in Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu's arms.
The Bucs decided to roll the dice on 4th-and-3 with 12:50 remaining in the fourth quarter, and Brady hit wide receiver Mike Evans for a 31-yard touchdown.
Brady did well to give the Buccaneers a chance late in regulation. He led Tampa Bay on another scoring drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Evans with 4:10 remaining. This play trimmed Kansas City's lead to 27-24.
Unfortunately for Brady, his defense could get a stop on the Chiefs' final possession as Mahomes picked up multiple first downs to run out the clock and secure the win.