Down three touchdowns to the greatest player of all time, he orchestrated a comeback that fell just short. But it was a turning point in the quarterback’s career.
The Bills had been shut down by the Patriots on a windswept Monday night and, six days later, their season was officially on life support. At 7–5, a loss in Tampa against the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers and Tom Brady would mean falling two games behind their old nemeses from Foxboro and make the rest of December and January a steep uphill climb.
Then, they fell three touchdowns behind the Buccaneers, and their walk to the locker room for halftime might as well have been across a metaphorical Green Mile.