Yesterday’s slate of NFL action featured just one game between teams with winning records, but luckily for the NFL, that game was a classic, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored a last-minute touchdown and added a two-point conversion to stun the Washington Redskins, 36-35.

Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms, making only his fifth career start, completed 15 of 27 passes for 279 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions in a breakout performance. But the talk around the water cooler will be about coach Jon Gruden’s decision to eschew the sure-thing extra point after the last of Simms’s touchdowns and go for the two-point conversion and the win. Gruden initially sent in his kicking team, but when Washington jumped offside and moved the ball from the 2-yard line to the 1, Gruden ordered his offense to take the field and give the ball to Mike Alstott, who barreled into the end zone.

Despite Alstott’s three touchdowns, the difference in the game was Tampa Bay’s passing attack and, more specifically, the pass protection. Joey Galloway’s seven catches and 131 yards were largely the result of the Bucs’ consistent ability to pick up Washington’s blitzes. Simms was never sacked.

The loss dropped the Redskins to 5-4 and allowed the Giants to retain their place atop the NFC East, with 5-3 Dallas taking on 4-4 Philadelphia tonight. It was a hugely disappointing game for a team that started 3-0, but Joe Gibbs still has the Redskins in the middle of the playoff race.

Tampa Bay, which ran out to its own 4-0 start, improved to 6-3 and stayed a game behind the Carolina Panthers in the AFC South. With quarterback Brian Griese out for the season and rookie Cadillac Williams no longer running effectively, the Bucs headed into yesterday with a severe limp. The hard-fought victory over a quality opponent like Washington makes the second half of the season appear that much more promising.

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Heath Evans began the season as a Miami Dolphin. He made Miami regret cutting him yesterday with a big game for his new team, New England, in a 23-16 Patriots victory.

New England signed Evans for the services of a backup fullback and special teams player. But when starting running back Corey Dillon re-aggravated an injury on the first play yesterday, the injury-riddled Patriots had no choice but to turn to Evans. Without the threat of a running game, the Patriots were in danger of leaving their decimated secondary out on the field for way to long.

Evans responded with 84 yards on 17 carries – more yards than he gained in his two best NFL seasons combined – as New England won a game that marks the beginning of the easy portion of its schedule. After a brutal first half of the season that included six opponents with winning records, the Patriots now have just two games remaining against winning teams.

The win kept the Patriots in first place in the AFC East, but it also confirmed and highlighted their defensive weaknesses. Miami’s Gus Frerotte threw for 360 yards against the Patriots, whose pass defense is a serious liability. That liability was most evident on the Frerotte touchdown pass to receiver Chris Chambers that gave Miami a 16-15 lead with two minutes remaining. Frerotte wasn’t ready for the shotgun snap on the play and had to grab ball off the turf. Instead of maintaining coverage, New England’s entire secondary ran for the ball, which Frerotte picked up and heaved into the air to a wide-open Chambers in the end zone.

The good news for the New England defense was the return of Richard Seymour, the defensive lineman who has missed most of the season with a knee injury. Seymour, one of the league’s best defensive players, will certainly improve the Pats’ pass rush, but he can’t fix all of the defense’s problems.

New England’s offense looks as good as ever, though. After the Chambers touchdown, the Patriots took the lead again after only two plays, a 59-yard pass and the 17-yard game-winning touchdown pass from Tom Brady to tight end Ben Watson. For a team that won three championships behind its defense, turning into a pass-first team whose secondary is exposed by the likes of Gus Frerotte is a change. But sitting atop the AFC East is not.

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In addition to the shootout in Tampa, two other games yesterday helped shape the playoff race in the wide-open NFC.

A year ago, the Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West but couldn’t beat their division rivals, the St. Louis Rams, losing to them twice in the regular season and again in the playoffs. This year, Seattle has beaten St. Louis twice, including 31-16 yesterday, and in doing so has practically wrapped up the division.

Shaun Alexander will make all the headlines after rushing for 165 yards and three touchdowns. But left tackle Walter Jones makes Seattle’s offense run. Alexander consistently found room to run behind Jones yesterday, and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got great protection from his blind side.

The Green Bay Packers’ 33-25 victory over the Atlanta Falcons was the day’s biggest upset, or was it? The Packers’ seven losses have come by an average of 5.7 points, and, at 2-7, they’ve scored 17 more points than they’ve allowed. Meanwhile, the 6-3 Falcons have recorded their wins by an average of less than 10 points, and have seemed to get good breaks in close games all year. That usually can’t last for a full season, and the Falcons, while still in good shape for a wild-card berth, are not a sure thing.

As well as the Packers played yesterday, it still seems very unlikely that they can get back into the NFC North race, especially with the upstart Bears rolling along at 7-3. But in what could be the final seven games of Brett Favre’s NFL career, the Packers will be one losing team no one wants to play.

Mr. Smith is a writer for Football-Outsiders.com.