TAMPA, Fla. — TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tom Brady threw for 379 yards and four touchdowns, helping the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers kick off the NFL season with a mistake-filled 31-29 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.
With seats in a NFL stadium filled to full capacity for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Ryan Succop won it with a 36-yard field goal Brady set up with a last-minute drive directed on the same field where the Bucs became the first team to play and win a Super Bowl in its home stadium seven months ago. Dak Prescott threw for 403 yards and three TDs for Dallas.
Succop is the former Gamecock kicker who was the last player chosen in the 2009 NFL Draft, giving him the title of "Mr. Irrelevant" after he was taken by the Chiefs with the 256h pick. But Succop has been anything but irrelevant in his NFL career with stops in Kansas City and Nashville and he is now providing Tampa Bay with a reliable placekicker.
