Tom Brady passed for 411 yards and matched his season high of five touchdowns to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 45-17 victory over the visiting Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Antonio Brown caught seven passes for 124 yards and two scores and Mike Evans had six receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns for Tampa Bay. Giovani Bernard also had a touchdown catch and Leonard Fournette tacked on a scoring run for the Buccaneers (4-1).
The 44-year-old Brady completed 30 of 41 passes while having 400 yards and five scoring passes in the same game for the first time in his 22-year career.
The performance continued Brady’s career-long success against Miami. He has accounted for 75 touchdowns (72 passing, three rushing) in 36 contests against the Dolphins.
Jacoby Brissett was 27-of-39 passing for 275 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for the Dolphins (1-4). Myles Gaskin caught two scoring passes for the second time in his career and collected a career-high 10 receptions while accumulating 99 total yards (74 receiving, 25 rushing).
Miami has dropped four consecutive games by an average of 19 points.
Tampa Bay outgained the Dolphins 558 to 301.
Brown also became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 900 career receptions. He reached the milestone in his 143rd game, topping Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison (149). Brown has 906 career catches.
Brown caught his two touchdown passes during the second quarter when the Buccaneers tallied 17 unanswered points.
Ryan Succop booted a 42-yard field goal in the opening minute of the second quarter to knot the score at 10.
Just over three minutes later, Tampa Bay went ahead as Brady found Brown on third-and-2, and the latter caught the ball just before midfield and broke loose for a 62-yard score.
The two struck again with 1:48 remaining in the half when Brown caught a 4-yarder from Brady to make it 24-10.
Miami pulled within seven when Brissett tossed a 1-yard scoring pass to Gaskin with 6:56 left in the third quarter.
Fournette scored on a 5-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to give the Buccaneers a 31-17 lead. Tampa Bay continued to pour it on as Brady threw touchdown passes of 34 and 22 yards to Evans over the next six minutes to make it a 28-point margin.
The Dolphins led 10-7 after the opening quarter, receiving a 23-yard field goal from Jason Sanders and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Brissett to Gaskin. Brady hit Bernard on a 10-yard touchdown in the stanza.
–Field Level Media
