Copyright The Boston Globe
Enduring a year of Cam Newton, the slow meltdown of Mac Jones, and the ridiculous hope that Bailey Zappe was the answer is a very small price to pay while waiting for someone such as Maye to show up and, along with Mike Vrabel, revive the whole operation. That it has worked out this way for the Patriots is a football blessing. And with gunslinger Baker Mayfield and the NFC South-leading Buccaneers on the docket Sunday for a thoroughly intriguing matchup, it’s easy to think of all the sliding-doors scenarios that could have altered this outcome along the way. Here’s one: Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels reportedly loved Mayfield coming out of Oklahoma in the 2018 NFL Draft. That’s easy to understand — he was the No. 1 overall pick, after all, going to the Browns. Circumstances weren’t right for them to trade for him at that point — Brady still had a sixth Super Bowl to win as a Patriot. But I do wonder about this: When Mayfield’s career fell apart to the point that he was released by the Panthers in December 2022, did Belichick consider bringing him to Foxborough then? It would have made a lot of sense, and perhaps Foxborough would have been the scene of his own revival. Had it happened, the recent histories of the Buccaneers — where Mayfield found a football home and his old college mojo — and Patriots would be so much different. Kick it off, Borregales, and let’s get this thing started … Emeka Egbuka: The latest arrival from the Ohio State wide receiver factory, Egbuka leads all rookies in receiving yards (562), yards per catch (16.5), and touchdowns (5), while his 34 receptions trail only fellow first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan of the Panthers (41). Among all qualifying receivers, that 16.5 yards per catch is good for fifth in the NFL, trailing only the Colts’ Alec Pierce (20.9), the Patriots’ Kayshon Boutte (18.7), the Titans’ Calvin Ridley (a surprising 18.1), and the Lions’ Jameson Williams (16.9). The well-rounded Egbuka’s best game came in Week 5, when he caught all seven of his targets for 163 yards and a touchdown in a 38-35 win at Seattle. That was the first game that the Buccaneers were without longtime stalwart Mike Evans, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury. Evans returned in Week 7 against the Lions but suffered a concussion and broken collarbone and may miss the rest of the season. In Evans’s absence, Egbuka has received extra attention from opposing defenses, and he struggled in the three games prior to the Buccaneers bye last week. From Weeks 6-8, he had nine catches on 25 targets for 117 yards. Will Campbell: The Patriots simply must do a better job of protecting Maye, and he must do a better job of protecting himself. Maye has been sacked 34 times, second-most in the league, and 12 of those have come over the past two weeks. Even factoring in that five of those sacks were courtesy of the ferocious Myles Garrett, that’s way too many. It’s not going to get easier Sunday against a blitz-happy Buccaneers defense that ranks eighth in the league with 25 sacks. Campbell has a tough assignment in Anthony Nelson who, filling in for injured end Haason Reddick against the Saints two weeks ago, earned NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors after collecting two sacks, forcing a fumble, and returning an interception for a touchdown. Nelson’s pick-6 came off his own deflection, and he’s the kind of rusher who could give Campbell — perhaps you have heard about his arm length? — an afternoon of trouble. Lavonte David: Consider this a tribute to one of the NFL’s elder statesmen, and one who is still getting it done on game day. David, now 35 and in his 14th season with the Buccaneers, is one of eight members of the Super Bowl LV champions remaining with the franchise. He’s the fifth-oldest defensive player in the league (Cardinals tackle Calais Campbell, 39, is the oldest) and was drafted in the second round in 2012, the same year the Patriots took Dont’a Hightower and Chandler Jones in the first round. David remains an integral part of the Buccaneers’ aggressive defense, ranking third on the team with 57 tackles, including six for loss. He’s added 2½ sacks (third on the team), an interception, two passes defensed, and a fumble recovery, while playing 97 percent of the snaps. First of all, it’s a shame this isn’t a throwback week. Pat Patriot vs. Bucco Bruce (yes, that’s the name of the swashbuckling fella on the creamsicle Buccaneers’ original helmets). Uniform matchups don’t get any better than that. The Patriots and Buccaneers don’t have a lot of history, save for Tampa Bay borrowing the greatest quarterback in NFL history for a couple of years. Tom Brady spent three years with the Buccaneers, went 32-18-1, threw for 14,643 yards and 108 touchdowns, and won a Super Bowl. It’s both funny and a bummer that he’s the greatest quarterback in that franchise’s history, too. This will be the 11th meeting between the Patriots and Buccaneers, with the Patriots winning seven. The Buccaneers won the last matchup, 19-17, on Oct. 3, 2021 — otherwise and forever known as Brady’s Return. For some reason, revisiting Brady’s return jostled a dormant memory of a Patriots-Buccaneers game of much less magnitude, and one played under very different circumstances. I’m not even talking about a regular-season game, but rather a matchup before the 2000 season, Belichick’s first as Patriots coach and Brady’s first as a Patriot after being chosen in the sixth round out of Michigan. Twenty-five years later, Brady must be considered the greatest pick in professional sports history, especially relative to draft position. But then, he was just a scrawny rookie trying to find a place on a depth chart that had three quarterbacks — Drew Bledsoe, John Friesz, and sports-radio favorite Michael Bishop — ahead of him. The Patriots lost, 31-21, to the Buccaneers in their fourth game of that preseason. Bishop played the entire second half, completing 7 of 17 passes for 157 yards. Brady did not play. But he had one more chance to show what he could do. Back then, teams played an absurd five preseason games. And Brady looked sharp in the finale, a 29-21 win over the Panthers. Nick Cafardo, the Patriots beat writer at the time, used the final item in his notebook to acknowledge Brady’s situation: “It appears Friesz played well enough to keep his spot, though rookie Tom Brady went 9 for 13 for 97 yards and a touchdown. The Patriots have some interesting choices to make. One could include Brady going on the practice squad if he clears waivers.” When Belichick made final cuts a few days later, the biggest names let go were veteran running back Raymont Harris and safety Chris Carter. The kid QB had made the club. Wrote Cafardo: “One key decision by Belichick was to keep all four of his quarterbacks, Drew Bledsoe, John Friesz, Michael Bishop, and rookie Tom Brady, who threw the ball well enough in exhibition games to suggest he may have a future in the NFL.” He sure did. A future no one would have dared imagine. Don’t know about you, but I found myself, oh, mildly aggrieved come 4:01 p.m. Tuesday, when it became clear that the feel-good, ahead-of-schedule Patriots had not added anyone before the trade deadline. Don’t take this as a suggestion that they should have taken a huge swing and, say, traded a first-round pick or two to benefit from the Jets’ latest fire sale. But it would have been worthwhile to do something, or a couple of somethings, to get some complementary help. The depth chart is thin at several positions — edge rusher, safety, and running back chief among them. The Patriots had relatively good health through the first two months, but injuries to important players such as Rhamondre Stevenson are starting to crop up. The Patriots are slated to have as many as 12 picks in the 2026 draft. Those picks include two fourth-rounders and three sixth-rounders. That’s a lot of capital. I wouldn’t have wanted the Patriots to trade a pick in the first three rounds. The smaller hope was that they could make a move or two for reinforcements like they did in 2014, when they brought in linebackers Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas, or 2016, when they sent a sixth-rounder to the Lions for linebacker Kyle Van Noy and a seventh. Instead, no trades were made. The Patriots did add Brenden (Son of Jerry) Rice to the practice squad. Maybe he’ll turn out to be something, but all that does for the moment is remind us that the Patriots traded the first-round pick that the 49ers used on his dad back in 1985. Now that’s an enduring grievance. The Patriots, who average 26.3 points per game, seventh in the league, can win a shootout if they protect the ball better than they did last week against the Falcons. But their pass-protection issues combined with the Buccaneers’ relentless rush seems like a recipe for a turnover or two. Plus, the Buccaneers are rested and at home. This appears to be where the Patriots’ six-game winning streak comes to an end. Buccaneers 27, Patriots 24.
