TAMPA, Fla. – The Patriots extended their winning streak to seven games with an impressive 28-23 victory over the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

Honestly, we are running out of superlatives for head coach Mike Vrabel's team. New England was in a tough spot on the road against an opponent that was leading their division heading into Week 10. At 6-2, the Bucs were the best team the Patriots have faced since Week 5 in Buffalo, and Tampa Bay was well-rested coming off its bye week, which came at a good time for a banged-up Bucs team. Yes, the Bucs have significant injuries on offense, but so do the Patriots, playing Sunday's game without starting WR Kayshon Boutte and RB Rhamondre Stevenson. Given the quality of the opponent, it felt like a spot where the Patriots might slip up.

Instead, the beat goes on for these Patriots, who got three 55-yard-plus touchdowns from two rookies, some Maye Magic, and a few timely stops by the defense to lead the team to victory. Along with extending their winning streak to seven games and improving to 5-0 on the road, New England now has a two-game lead in the division with a win in hand after the Bills were upset by the Dolphins in Miami on Sunday — good times.

Okay, now that we discussed all the great vibes, let's quote Vrabel to tell the whole story: the Patriots are "learning from winning so they don't need to learn by losing." With 5:25 left in a five-point game, Maye threw an interception in the end zone that gave the Bucs life. In that situation, kicking a field goal to take an 8-point lead would suffice. As the stakes get higher, those are the mistakes that could come back to bite them down the road.

"I always love the fight. That's why I love coaching them, is that they fight and they compete. It's not always perfect. It's never going to be perfect. But I love the way that they compete," Vrabel said after the game.

Luckily, the Patriots defense forced a turnover on downs on the Bucs next possession, and then RB TreVeyon Henderson had his second house call on a 69-yard touchdown to make it 28-16. Ultimately, we can chalk these up to coachable moments for Maye, who is still playing at a high level while leading this team to an 8-2 record.

Here are eight takeaways from the Patriots huge road victory over the Bucs in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

1. Players of the Game: Rookies RB TreVeyon Henderson and WR Kyle Williams Break Out in Tampa Bay

When the Patriots selected two day-two skill players last April, the hope was that Henderson and Williams would add an explosive play element to an offense in need of game-breakers.

Although it took some time for the two rookies to emerge, Henderson and Williams broke out in a big way on Sunday, becoming the first Patriots rookie duo to have 50-plus yard touchdowns since 1997. Henderson had a pair of long touchdowns, including one that essentially ended the game, and Williams busted out from repping behind the vets, taking advantage of his opportunity with Boutte inactive. According to NextGen, here were the max speeds on the three touchdowns: 22.01 (55-yard TD), 21.78 (72-yard TD), 21.38 (69-yard TD). If you wanted speed, the Patriots got speed.

On Henderson's first touchdown, the Patriots appear to be running a duo scheme, where the offensive line double-teams on the line of scrimmage to get an initial push. Henderson then reads the second level of the defense to run where they ain't, and when he sees Bucs LB Lavonte David crash inside, the rookie hits the B-Gap and is loose into the secondary with only the post-safety to beat. With his speed, Henderson wasn't getting caught.

After hitting an inside run for an explosive touchdown, Henderson's second touchdown was on a classic toss-lead scheme. With the Pats putting NT Khyiris Tonga in the backfield, New England tosses the ball out to Henderson, who gets helped to the edge by Tonga and TE Austin Hooper. Henderson then shakes off a tackle to gain over 70 yards after contact, and with the Bucs selling out to stop the run late in the game, Henderson is gone for a 69-yard touchdown.

As for Williams, New England ran a seven-man protection on a play-action drop-back with only two intersecting crossing routes downfield. When the post-safety takes Hollins's crosser, Williams has 1-on-1 with Bucs CB Benjamin Morrison, and the rookie wideout wins that foot race with Maye hanging on against pressure from OLB Chris Braswell, who was rushing on TE Austin Hooper in the loaded up protection.

"Kyle's [Williams] play early. We really needed that one. That was the one that we were talking about, just needing one play, and he hit it. It was great to see him have that success," Vrabel said post-game. "With Kayshon being out that was an opportunity for Kyle with Rhamondre being out. It led to more opportunities for TreVeyon. They battled through."

For a Patriots personnel department that is working hard to weaponize the offense, it must have felt great to see Henderson and Williams bring their vision to life on Sunday. We've all been clamoring for some game-breakers on offense, and Henderson and Williams delivered.

2. QB Drake Maye Hears MVP Chants on the Road in Tampa Bay During Sunday's Win

After another deep bomb in the fourth quarter, Maye was hearing MVP chants from a large contingent of Patriots fans at Raymond James Stadium — MVP chants, on the road.

Although it wasn't always perfect, Maye was once again a winning quarterback on Sunday. The Patriots' QB finished the game 16-of-31 for 270 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. In the advanced metrics, Maye added +0.09 EPA per play with an 11.8 average air yards per attempt.

More specifically, we wrote this week that Bucs HC Todd Bowles was going to put Maye under pressure, forcing the young QB to make good decisions. On initial viewing, Bowles held up his end of the bargain, pressuring Maye on 41.7% of his drop-backs. Maye had four completions for 167 passing yards while under pressure, including the 72-yard TD to Williams while being hit in the pocket.

"Yeah, that's what it is. I think you know with Coach Bowles and what he does, they do a great job defensively," Maye said after the game. "I was just going to try to hang in there. There's times on first, second down, I probably could have hung in there more. But like I said, just proud of this team. We're blessed to play this sport. It's fun out there."

For example, on a critical 3rd-and-14 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots ran a 989 concept with two vertical routes on the outside and WR Stefon Diggs running through the middle of the field. The Bucs fall into a cover-three zone with CB Zyon McCollum bailing into deep-zone coverage. Maye essentially out-throws the coverage with Hollins running down the pass as he separates from McCollum – just an insane throw with pressure bearing down on him in the pocket. In the NFL, the ball isn't supposed to beat the coverage like that, with Maye showing off the arm strength.

Another great throw under pressure from Maye in the first half was a dot to WR DeMario Douglas against an interior blitz. The Bucs get LB Lavonte David free with a twist on the inside, and Maye has to stare down the barrel in the pocket to fire the ball to Douglas, who finds the soft spot in the exotic zone coverage to win on his slant route for a 26-yard gain on third down.

As OC Josh McDaniels said this past week, we can't swoon over all the extended-play magic by Maye and then get angry when he makes a mistake while extending the play. To some extent, you have to live with those both ways. However, Maye needs to know the game situation, which is part of his development as a second-year QB. With a five-point lead at the TB 2, a field goal makes it an 8-point game, meaning a throwaway in this situation is a fine result.

Instead, Maye goes into playground mode when the initial play isn't there by rolling to his right. The Bucs were in man coverage with S Tykee Smith covering TE Hunter Henry. Smith instinctively falls off Henry and into the passing lane as Maye rolls right, intercepting a pass in the end zone to keep the Bucs alive in a five-point game in the fourth quarter. Although the result wasn't ideal, Maye said he will continue to try to make plays out of structure.

"I'm not going to change my approach. I wouldn't change the throw. I had Mack [Hollins] earlier. Just got to make it him or nobody out there, out wide," said Maye. "You got to be mad yourself, but you know that you have a chance to either go on a two-minute drill to win the game or go on a five-minute scenario to win the game. That's this league, just bouncing back from it, flipping the page."

The Patriots will live with the young quarterback's mistakes in exchange for the big plays, especially while the team is winning. Eventually, those are things that Maye will need to clean up, though.

3. Pats Defense Good in the Middle Quarters, But Early and Late TD Drives Stand Out

Speaking after the win, Vrabel said the defense had its worst two drives on the first and last drives of the game on Sunday.

This week, the Bucs scored the fifth opening-drive touchdown against the Patriots through 10 games. New England has now allowed an opening drive score in seven of its 10 games this season, and Tampa Bay took advantage of another trend by attacking the Patriots high red-zone coverages, with zone coverage busts becoming problematic for the defense in recent weeks.

Although the defense settled down after the opening drive, scripted plays that are attacking the Patriots coverage tendencies in certain areas of the field continue to be an issue defensively.

For example, in the high red zone, or the area between the 15-25-yard line, New England tends to play quarters coverage. Tampa Bay guesses right that they'll get quarters from the Patriots, and draws up a delayed wheel route to WR Emeka Egbuka. With the vertical route to the right side running off the deep coverage (CB Christian Gonzalez), the Bucs flooded the deep part of the field by running Egbuka into the vacated area for a Bucs touchdown.

The Patriots then gave the Bucs a glimmer of hope late in the game, when Mayfield led a 7-play touchdown drive to make it a one-score game again. Although there were only 33 seconds left, it forced the Pats to recover an onside kick to put the game on ice. Ultimately, WR Stefon Diggs recovered the onside kick and the Patriots kneeled out the clock. Still, while they're learning from winning, those are some areas New England's defense could improve.

4. Patriots Flex Wide Receiver Depth Without Starter Kayshon Boutte on Sunday

Offensively, the Patriots were playing without two key starters, presenting a challenge for the offense in Sunday's win.

For a position group that hasn't always been the deepest in recent years, New England continues to get contributions from all their wide receivers. On Sunday, WR Mack Hollins led all receivers with 47 snaps, and Hollins had a team-high six catches for 106 yards. Star wideout Stefon Diggs (35 snaps) also contributed with five catches for 46 yards and a score, and we already covered Williams's contributions to the win. This week, the Patriots were able to overcome not having Boutte, a significant piece of their passing game.

Along with Hollins and Williams catching explosives, Diggs contributed with a critical fourth-down touchdown grab right before halftime on a terrific toe-tapping grab.

The Pats ran a "smash" concept where TE Hunter Henry runs the underneath route and Diggs runs the corner route. Maye is reading the outside corner here. If the corner connects to Henry, he throws to Diggs. If the corner falls off in zone, he throws the whip route to Henry. In this case, the Bucs switch the two-receiver side at the line, which gets Diggs favorable leverage on the corner-fade, and the star wideout does the rest for six.

Ideally, New England will get Boutte back at full strength soon, but it's a great sign in terms of roster building that the Patriots can turn to other receivers and still get production.

5. CB Christian Gonzalez Shadows Bucs First-Rounder Emeka Egbuka on Sunday

The Patriots are beginning to lean heavily into man-coverage matching over the last few weeks, with the latest battle for the All-Pro corner being the Bucs talented first-rounder. Gonzalez shadowed Egbuka on 32 routes, allowing three catches for 56 yards on nine targets. Gonzalez won most of the rounds, including two third downs and one red-zone target. In nine man-coverage matchups, Gonzalez only allowed one catch to Egbuka on three targets for 11 yards. After battling with Falcons WR Drake London last week, the Patriots are playing to Gonzalez's strengths by matching him up on the opponent's best receiver. That said, Egbuka did give the Pats problems when the Bucs got him away from Gonzo (31-yard catch vs. zone, 21-yard TD).

6. Patriots Continue to Manage Injuries at Running Back, Terrell Jennings (Knee) the Latest to Exit a Game

Although it was a huge day for Henderson, the Patriots running back depth continues to take hits after first-year pro Terrell Jennings exited Sunday's game with a knee injury. Henderson was also banged up at one point, but did return to the game and then had his second house call, so he seems fine. The second-rounder had to play 49 snaps, or 83.1%, against the Bucs because Jennings left the game in the second quarter. Practice-squad elevation D'Ernest Johnson played six offensive snaps in some of Jennings's roles, but the depth might be an issue. Hopefully, lead-back Rhamondre Stevenson (toe) returns soon for New England.

7. Patriots O-Line Battles with Bucs Aggressive Defensive Front

The Patriots offensive line had a heavyweight matchup against Bucs DT Vita Vea and company. On initial viewing, the good news is that both rookies, LT Will Campbell and LG Jared Wilson, only allowed two pressures each, with Campbell having a solid outing (QB hit, hurry). However, Vea was a handful on the inside, as expected, logging five total pressures. Most of those rushes came against C Garrett Bradbury (four hurries), with Vea's playing strength being a tough matchup for New England's center. Overall, the Pats broke off some big runs and Maye landed punches under pressure, with the O-Line hanging in there on Sunday.

8. Patriots Special Teams Have an Up-and-Down Day in Tampa Bay

On a positive note, rookie K Andy Borregales continues to be solid with four made extra points in the win. However, P Bryce Baringer had a touchback on a plus-50 punt, the Pats were called for two penalties on punt return, and PR Marcus Jones muffed a punt. New England's special teams didn't make any catastrophic errors, but like the rest of the team, there are areas to improve despite getting the win.

One more time: "We are going to learn from winning, so we don't need to learn by losing." In a challenging road environment, the wins kept coming for the Patriots in Tampa Bay on Sunday.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer