Winston- Bucs get record setting wild win in LA
Abbey Radeka, Florida Football Insiders, published 30 September 2019

The Bucs bounced back Sunday night in a huge way, upset the defending NFC champion Rams 55-40, and matching their franchise single-game scoring record to now sit at 2-2, being undefeated on the road. Similarly to last week, the Bucs jumped out ahead early, and snagged a 21-point lead with just over 8 minutes to go in the first half.

The Rams gained some momentum and moved down the field pretty quickly in their next drive. From 13 yards out, RB Todd Gurley, one Arian’s biggest concerns heading into the game, took a hand off from Jared Goff and fought his way through to the end zone for a touchdown. This was followed by another Rams touchdown in their next drive from tight end Gerald Everett, cutting the Bucs’ lead to 21-14.

In their last drive of the half, Jameis Winston found Chris Godwin on multiple third down completions, and then handed it off running back Ronald Jones in the red zone for a TD. The Rams responded with a field goal to make it 28-17 going into halftime. Both teams traded field goals to start the half, and then after an interception by Shaq Barrett, the Bucs extended their lead to 38-20 at the start of the fourth quarter.

With the help of a gift, roughing the passer penalty from the Bucs, the Rams moved the ball down the field pretty quickly and Gurley finished with an easy 5-yard run into the end zone. Winston responded with his 4th TD pass for the game in a flashy 67 yard throw to Mike Evans, who danced into the end zone in single coverage, putting the Bucs up by 18. Jameis finished with an impressive 385 yards against the Rams defense. However, there was too much time left on the clock for anyone to starting getting comfortable, especially coming off of last week.

This is when the Rams scored two unanswered touchdowns, cutting the Bucs lead to just 5 points with just under 7 minutes left to play. Then kicker Matt Gay, who missed a 34-yard field goal with no time left last week to lose the game, hit his second field goal of the night to put the Bucs up by 8. Important to note, the rookie Gay ended the game making all six extra points and two field goals, including one from the 58 yards away in the fourth quarter.

Still a one score game, The Rams were moving down the field with 2 minutes to go. That is, until Shaq Barrett got a strip sack to knock the ball out of Goff’s hands. Former Ram Ndamukong Suh recovered it, and ran it back for the touchdown to put the Bucs up 55-40 to seal a crucial road win for Tampa Bay.

With Evans being tied up by Rams Pro Bowl DB Aqib Talib, Godwin was Winston’s favorite target of the night, catching 12 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns on 14 targets. Ronald Jones was the game’s leading rusher, going for 70 yards and one touchdown on the ground, and also had one reception for 12 yards.

This is a huge momentum boost for the Bucs as they head into a long stretch of road games before they come back to Tampa in mid November.