MINNEAPOLIS -– A game or a season can sometimes swing on a single play, or a series of plays. Make them, and you may find your team in Super Bowl LII like the Patriots.
Miss them, and things can unravel quickly like they did for the Bucs.
The fork in the road ran through Tampa on Oct. 5. At 2-2 and having allowed 30 points per game, New England was reeling and having to travel on a short week to play the Bucs in a Thursday night game at Raymond James Stadium.
All that would become right about the Patriots and all that was wrong about the Bucs was on display in that one game.