Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes in the only half he needed to play, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued the Detroit Lions 47-7 on Saturday, sealing a place in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Bucs (10-5) set a franchise record of 588 yards and broke out in the second longest drought in the NFL behind Cleveland’s 18-year season, which ends Sunday.
Tampa Bay rested Brady when they were 34-0 up, the biggest break advantage in franchise history. Blaine Gabbert threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski on his first shot, a play after D-Andre Swift ran back and a 22-yard pass to Mike Evans later in the third quarter.
Brady had 22 of 27 for 348 meters, with a combination of deep passes in the field and arrows in traffic. The six-time Super Bowl-winning defender threw touchdown passes to Gronkowski, Evans, Chris Godwin, who caught Antonio Brown with one hand.
Brady, 43, started his 298 game to tie Brett Favre’s record for an NFL defender and played in the 300th game.
The Lions (5-10) started the game without interim coach Darrell Bevell, along with assistants on the defensive team due to tracking Covid-19 contact. And they played much of the game without Matthew Stafford. He was hesitant to play with injuries to his hip and thumb and then injured his right ankle on the opening unit and never returned.
Chase Daniel struggled to move the ball a lot for the Lions, who avoided being shut down for the second time this season in the third quarter, when Jamal Agnew returned a 74-yard point for a touchdown. Daniel was replaced in the fourth quarter by David Blough, a rough debut last year.