Tom Brady has thrown for 303 yards and one touchdown, with New England's leaky defence improving in a 19-14 NFL victory over Tampa Bay.
The Super Bowl champions on Thursday rebounded from a last-second loss to Carolina, despite Brady turning the ball over twice - on his first interception in eight regular-season games and a fumble on one of the Buccaneers' three sacks.
Neither of the mistakes led to points for Tampa Bay (2-2), who were unable to do much in attack until the fourth quarter.
Brady threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hogan in the second quarter, and Stephen Gostkowski kicked field goals of 27, 23, 45 and 48 yards for the Patriots (3-2).
Jameis Winston rallied Tampa Bay late with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Brate that trimmed New England's lead to 16-14 with 2:09 remaining. He marched the Buccaneers from his 25 to the Patriots' 19 before throwing an incompletion on the final play.
It might not have come down to a last-second drive if not for another poor performance by Buccaneers kicker Nick Folk.
Folk missed two field goals and an extra-point before beating the New York Giants last week on a last-second kick. He missed three more field goals on Thursday, including a 31-yarder that would have cut a nine-point deficit to six in the closing minutes.
With his 186th career regular-season win as a starter, Brady tied Brett Favre and Peyton Manning for the most by a quarterback in NFL history. He also has 25 post-season victories, including five Super Bowls.
Defensively, the Patriots entered the night on pace to yield more than yards than any team in league history.
The Buccaneers honoured Malcolm Glazer at halftime, inducting the late owner into the Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium.
Glazer, whose family still run the team, died in 2014 aged 85. He bought the franchise in 1995 for a then-record $US192 million ($A247 million).
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