4 winners and 3 losers from the Patriots’ win over the Buccaneers

Thursday Night Football between the Patriots and the Buccaneers wasn’t as great as we wanted it to be, but it was still better than most games on Thursday. The Patriots came away with a 19-14 win after a last-minute effort by Jameis Winston and the Bucs fell just short.

The win tied Tom Brady with Peyton Manning and Brett Favre for the most regular-season wins by an NFL starting quarterback, with 186. It’s safe to say he’ll be passing that mark sooner rather than later. The win was also Bill Belichick’s first in Tampa Bay, giving him a win in every NFL city.

Brady was 30-of-40 on the night with 303 yards, one touchdown and one pick. Winston completed 26 of 46 passes for 334 yards and a touchdown, and got some help from Doug Martin, who ran for 74 yards and a touchdown in his 2017 debut. However, it wasn’t enough to knock off the Patriots.

Here are the winners and losers from Thursday night’s game.

Brady doesn’t throw picks often. In fact, going into Thursday night’s game, he hadn’t thrown an interception on the road in the regular season since 2015. He also had gone 264 consecutive passes without a pick.

Justin Evans changed that in the first quarter:

Even though the Bucs didn’t win, Evans had a great game, which is a promising sign for their 2017 second-round pick. He was starting while safeties Keith Tandy and T.J. Ward were out with injuries Thursday night.

Typically we hear about moments when rookies are welcomed to the NFL. Evans let everybody know he was there instead.

Mike Evans caught his fourth pass on the night midway through the fourth quarter, putting the Bucs inside the Patriots’ 10-yard line.

In an effort to get extra yardage, Evans pulled off this awkward jump-spin that failed miserably:

You gotta admire the effort by Evans, who is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL today. But there’s no denying it just wasn’t close to being pretty or effective.

Patriots center David Andrews gave us a chuckle in the second quarter, when he got his helmet ripped off by Buccaneers defensive lineman Clinton McDonald.

Andrews turned around immediately, looking for the flag and forgetting the play:

Yes, this one could totally be a loser because he left Dion Lewis hanging before eventually getting back to the play.

But that’s just a funny moment, and that should be a winner in everybody’s book. Though Belichick might disagree. Whatever.

The Bucs have been cursed at kicker ever since Connor Barth was released after the 2015 season. In 2016, they drafted Roberto Aguayo, who failed. His replacement, Nick Folk, failed hard on Thursday night.

Folk went 0-for-3 on kicks, with his third being a short 31-yarder. That’s shorter than an extra point!

To be fair to Folk, his two kicks beforehand were from 56 and 49 yards.

But he might not have a job much longer. Those kicks were the difference in the Bucs going for a field goal at the end of the game and a touchdown, in their 19-14 loss.

The Bucs are 28-42 the past two seasons in field goals. That’s gotta change.

Doug Martin made his first return to action since his four-game suspension for PEDs. He wasn’t expected to do too much, especially since he hadn’t gone through an actual practice in a month until this week. But he finished with 13 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown.

His touchdown came with this Superman-esque leap over the line:

Welcome back, Muscle Hamster.

Stephen Gostkowski got Charlie Brown’d:

At least he looked good doing it. When you hear “Color Rush” for Thursday night games, you’d think the Patriots would be wearing something blue or red. But they went with all whites. They looked solid, and as a kicker, Gostkowski’s stayed clean as a whistle.

Much like picking off Brady, forcing a fumble on him is a big deal. That’s what Adarius Glanton did:

So when the Buccaneers linebacker got to him on a second-and-4 late in the third quarter, he celebrated by going fishing:

There are 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Brady’s high up — if not the highest — on most players’ list to sack and force a fumble. Glanton cast his line and reeled in a big one.