New England Patriots team grades vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It was a tale of two halves for the Patriots pass defense. In the first half, they made Jameis Winston uncomfortable. He was inaccurate and unable to move the Buccaneers offense, a surprise after how poorly the Patriots defended the pass thus far this season. However, it did not stay that way.

Winston ended up putting up some solid stats, completing 26-of-46 for 334 yards and one touchdown. His stats are aided by the game script, but the Patriots really took their foot off the gas in terms of pass defense towards the end of the third quarter and throughout the fourth quarter.

Multiple roughing the passer penalties almost cost the Patriots prior to halftime. They were also nearly burned multiple times by DeSean Jackson, who has yet to get on the same page with Winston, which bailed the Patriots out.

Where the Patriots should be happy about was slowing down Mike Evans. Evans caught only five passes for 49 yards. They did struggle to contain Cameron Brate, who caught five passes for 68 yards and one touchdown; he could have had much more if not for some great players from Patrick Chung and Devin McCourty.

There was some decent pressure put on Winston, as he was hit six times and sacked twice on his 46 dropbacks. The stats may not say it, but the pass defense looked much better tonight. The yardage allowed is still high, but the Buccaneers essentially ditched the running game most of the second half, giving them a chance to rack up some stats late.