New England Patriots vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5 things to watch

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HOUSTON, TX – FEBRUARY 03: Denver Broncos safety T. J. Ward visits the SiriusXM set at Super Bowl LI Radio Row at the George R. Brown Convention Center on February 3, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM ) /

3. Former Broncos haunting Brady

Tom Brady has a .500 or winning record against every team in the NFL in his career except the Denver Broncos. The Broncos are the only team Brady hasn’t been able to really dominate in terms of wins and losses throughout his NFL career, and two players on the Buccaneers defense are going to haunt him in this game.

This is more of a bold prediction than an observation, but I’m not entirely taking a shot in the dark.

Robert Ayers Jr. has been an effective pass rusher for the Bucs so far this season, and is a former Denver Broncos first round pick whose best season with the Broncos came in 2013, when Denver took down the Patriots in the AFC Championship game with a suffocating defensive performance.

T.J. Ward is another former Broncos player in this game who has played pretty well for Tampa Bay through the first three games of the season. Ward was an enforcer for the Broncos, listed as a safety but spending a lot of time in the box and rushing the quarterback.

Brady knows about his abilities all too well.

These two guys will be key players for the Buccaneers defensively, getting after Brady and forcing him off his spot and into bad throws.

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