FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Playing as a visitor at Gillette Stadium wasn’t the only big change for Tom Brady on Sunday night.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion, six with the Patriots, struggled in the rainy conditions much of the evening. He was booed — often.
Being Brady, he also won.
Brady took Tampa Bay on a 45-yard drive aided by a 31-yard pass interference penalty, and Ryan Succop made a 48-yard field goal for a 19-17 victory. While most of the game was not a classic for the 44-year-old quarterback, the march to victory seemed fitting in a place Brady has won 135 of 158 games.
Brady threw for 269 yards, but the Bucs (3-1) scored only one touchdown, on an 8-yard run by Ronald Jones. With the game in the balance, he watched from an unfamiliar sideline as Nick Folk had a 56-yard field goal hit the left upright in the final minute for New England.
Brady then hugged dozens of his former teammates and coaches at midfield — a quick one with Bill Belichick — as the rain intensified and Gillette Stadium emptied in silence.
Despite soaring expectations and hype, this was no classic. There weren’t a lot of personal highlights for the returning hero. Indeed, when Brady was sacked by Matt Judon in the second quarter, the crowd went wild.