Buccaneers, Brady, Gronk, and Evans Make History During Win Over Panthers
By halftime of the Buccaneers' Week 18 tilt with the Panthers, it didn't look like the Buccaneers were going to be breaking a lot of the attainable records that were available coming into the game.
The Bucs gained just 48 total net yards on their first three drives of the game and didn't score a touchdown until the offense drove 99-yards downfield right before halftime. As it turned out, that drive sparked what would become a 38-10 drubbing after the Panthers led, 7-3, right up to the half.
Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Mike Evans, and the Buccaneers as a whole saw numerous records fall into their laps once the offense began to click. Instead of writing all of them out, we will separate them into lists/categories per each player, because yea, there were that many records broken on Sunday.
Everything listed below is a record that has since been taken over or shared with another player:
The Buccaneers
- The Buccaneers' 13-4 record is good for the most wins in a regular season in franchise history. The .765 winning percentage is also a franchise-best.
- The defense recorded 123 quarterback hits, which is the most the Bucs have ever recorded since the stat became official in 2006.
- Tampa Bay's 511 points, 6,901 net yards, 5,229 passing yards, and 404 first downs are all franchise-bests.
Tom Brady
- Brady eclipsed 5,000 passing yards during the game, which makes him just the second quarterback in NFL history to record 5,000 or more passing yards in two separate seasons.
- Brady's completion to Breshad Perriman in the second quarter allowed him to pass Jameis Winston for the most passing yards in a single season. Brady finished 2021 with 5,316 passing yards.
- Brady now owns the most passing touchdowns (43) in a single season with the Bucs after breaking his previous record of 40 in 2020.
- Brady. now has 66 games with three touchdowns and zero interceptions, which is the most in NFL history.
- Brady has thrown a touchdown to 90 different players throughout his career.
- Brady set the all-time single-season completion record with 485 completions in 2021.
Rob Gronkowski
- Gronk's 137-yard performance was not only his career-best as a Buc, but it gave him the record for most 100-yard games by a tight end (32).
- The 137-yards also marked his third 100-yard game on the year, tying Jimmie Giles for the most 100-yard games in a season by a Bucs tight end.
Mike Evans
- Evans extended his streak of consecutive seasons to start a career with 1,000 receiving yards to eight.
- Evans broke his own franchise record of 13 receiving touchdowns in the regular season after catching two touchdowns during the game. He finished the 2021 regular season with 14.
It's pretty impressive to break 13 records in a single game. Some teams don't even score 13 points in some games.
Congrats to the Buccaneers and all of their players who shared in the records this year. While the individual names are what will be written in the history books, it's the team as a whole that allowed these to be broken.
*Stats provided by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Communications Department
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