They nearly did it again. A week after blowing a 24-point lead to the Washington Redskins, the Buccaneers at one point led 20-3 in Atlanta yet found themselves in overtime after Matt Ryan tied the scores with 17 seconds left on a touchdown pass to Julio Jones. Fortunately a long drive to open overtime led to a Connor Barth fieldgoal and the Falcons were unable to convert on a 4th down play to end the game. The controversial decision to go for a 4th and 1 from the Tampa 40 at the two minute warning left the Falcons with a short field after the play was stopped. Jameis Winston had another excellent game, running for one score and passing for another in spite of being depleted once more at the receiver position through injuries.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 Atlanta Falcons 20 Sunday 1 November 2015 at the Georgia Dome
SCORING ATL 7:54-1Q Bryant FG21 TB 2:03-1Q Barth FG38 TB 3:32-2Q Barth FG23 TB 0:30-2Q Brate 20 pass from Winston (Barth kick) TB 6:06-3Q Winston 4 run (Brate kick) ATL 0:15-3Q Tamme 7 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick) ATL 4:56-4Q Bryant FG24 ATL 0:17-4Q Jones 8 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick) TB 7:52-OT Barth FG31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Martin 23-71, Winston 3-24, Sims 6-22. FALCONS: Freeman 21-88, Coleman 3-11, Ryan 3-2. PASSING BUCS: Winston 29-16-177-0-1. FALCONS: Ryan 45-37-397-1-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 3-48, Myers 3-32, Sims 3-24, Humphries 3-14, Brate 2-48, Martin 1-7, Dye 1-4. FALCONS: Jones 12-162, Tamme 10-103, Freeman 6-43, White 2-24, Hardy 2-21, Weems 1-11, Coleman 1-10, DiMarco 1-8, Ward 1-8, Toiolo 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Alexander 1-15. FALCONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: none. FALCONS: Weems 2-58. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: none. FALCONS: Weems 2-23. SACKS BUCS: Jones 1-2. FALCONS: Schofield 1-4, Allen 1-0.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 92 Gholston LG 70 Mankins DT 93 McCoy C 68 Hawley DT 97 Spence RG 74 Marpet RDE 56 Smith RT 78 Cherilus MLB 58 Alexander TE 88 Stocker WLB 54 David WR 17 Dye SLB 51 Lansanah WR 13 Evans LCB 27 Banks QB 3 Winston RCB 24 Jenkins FB 46 Lane SS 23 Conte RB 22 Martin FS 30 McDougald PLAYED 5 Schum, 10 Barth, 11 Humphries, 21 Verner, 26 Moore, 31 Wright, 34 Sims, 36 Swearinger, 37 Tandy, 38 Adjei-Barimah, 43 Rainey, 45 Lemon, 48 DePaola, 50 Carter, 52 George, 64 Pamphile, 82 Myers, 84 Brate, 89 Shepard, 90 Melton, 91 Shirley, 94 Johnson, 95 Jones. DID NOT PLAY 8 Glennon, 62 Smith INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 28 Jennings, 31 Wright, 77 McDaniel, 83 Jackson, 87 Seferian-Jenkins, 98 McDonald
COMMENTARY CREW Justin Kutcher and Charles Davis
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the clips Kwon Alexander with an amazing strip and fumble return in the first quarter Cameron Brate scores on a 20-yard pass from Jameis Winston The final play of the game - the pass falls incomplete and the Bucs win