Bucs starting to believe in wild-card chances after victory over Falcons Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 7 December 2015 Austin Seferian-Jenkins marched through the darkened Raymond James Stadium tunnel that leads to the Bucs locker room late Sunday afternoon shouting, “Four more! Four more! Four more!’’ Indeed, with four games left in the season, the countdown to what could be Tampa Bay’s first postseason berth in eight years is on. Inside their cramped locker room, though, the feeling among the Bucs is the playoffs have already begun. And what a start it was. With the exception of a crowd that didn’t seem quite as big as the 58,221 announced, most everything about the 23-19 victory over the Falcons on Sunday had a playoff feel to it. Especially the finish. Years from now, hundreds of thousands of people may try to say they were there to witness first-hand the interception linebacker Lavonte David made to finish off the Bucs’ two-game season sweep of the Falcons, their first since 2007. But millions may try to say they were there to see the incredible 20-yard run quarterback Jameis Winston made to set up the winning touchdown and propel the Bucs’ playoff hopes to a new level. Coming on third-and-19 from the Falcons 43-yard line with 2:45 left and the Bucs trailing by three, it was the kind of run that immediately becomes a part of franchise lore and leaves a team believing anything is possible. “When you see a run like that, you just know you’re going to win,’’ Seferian-Jenkins said. Working out of the shotgun, his team’s playoff hopes in the balance, Winston dropped back to pass but quickly opted to run. After 10 yards, he ran into a pile of players and appeared to be stopped — but he wasn’t. Winston popped up and rolled off tackles for another 10 yardsand a first down at the Falcons 23. Three plays later — after asking in the huddle, “Who wants the touchdown?’’ — Winston threw a 6-yard strike to wideout Mike Evans, who had literally raised his hand and said, “me, me, me,’’ to Winston’s query. “If this was last year and we were in that situation we probably would have done something (to mess it up),’’ Evans said of the final touchdown drive. “But this team, we stay together and find ways to overcome adversity.’’ These Bucs (6-6) have been overcoming adversity for months now. They started the season 1-3, but bounced back to win five of their past eight to stand alone in seventh place in the NFC playoff race. They’re still a game behind Seattle (7-5) for the sixth and final NFC wild-card berth, but have a one-game lead over the Giants and Bears, both of whom fell to 5-7 on Sunday, and a tiebreaker over the Falcons (6-6). “We’re pretty excited right now,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “We finished up the third quarter of our season with a 3-1 record, and we have a big four-game stretch starting up. As we see it, the playoffs started. And we feel like we have to win out. ... In that locker room we believe we can do it.” Though the Bucs got Seferian-Jenkins back for the first time in nine weeks, they played without three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. The team’s sack leader with seven, McCoy sat out with a left hand injury. A team that was 3-13 without McCoy in the lineup since 2010 also had to play without starting defensive end Jacquies Smith, who ranks second on the team in sacks with six. Despite their absences, the Bucs held the Falcons to just 319 total yards, including 64 rushing, and one touchdown. “That was a great job by our defense,’’ Smith said. “I think last Wednesday I looked over and our entire starting defensive line that we started the season with was standing on the sidelines. But that’s an opportunity for other players to step up.’’ William Gholston, before leaving the game and entering into the league’s concussion protocol, recorded two of the team’s three sacks of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, plus two tackles for loss. RB Devonta Freeman was limited to 47 yards on 14 carries, marking the second time in as many games the Bucs held their opponent to fewer than 70 yards rushing. The Bucs’ pass defense, which struggled to stop 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck during last week’s loss at Indianapolis, stepped up, as well, limiting receiver Julio Jones to just one catch for 25 yards in the second half. “You’re starting to see the maturation of this defense,’’ cornerback Alterraun Verner said. “We all wish it would have happened earlier, but you’re seeing it happen at the right time for us right now, and right now everybody in this room believes we can win any Sunday against anybody.” “That’s a high-powered offense that Atlanta has and they were in must-win mode just like us today, so we know we got their best effort. But we came out on top, and it was huge to pull it off that way, because some things are out of our control but we know that, as far as making the playoffs, we have a chance. We really do.’’