This was a game of two halves. The Bucs led 14-3 at the intermission thanks to a pair of Winston to Brate TD passes, the defense was playing well again and the New Orleans Saints looked to be in disarray. Then came the second half and 25 unanswered Saints points. A blocked punt changed the momentum, the Tampa offense totally disappeared after the break and the visitors clinched the NFC South division title going away with ease in the end.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Winston 5-47, Barber 14-42, Rodgers 4-16. SAINTS: Ingram 13-52, Kamara 12-51, Line 1-4, Brees 3-(-1), Hill 1-(-6). PASSING BUCS: Winston 38-18-213-1-2. SAINTS: Brees 31-24-201-1-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 4-86, Humphries 4-42, Rodgers 4-38, Brate 2-12, Godwin 1-13, Auclair 1-12, Wilson 1-8, Barber 1-2. SAINTS: Thomas 11-98, Kamara 5-36, Watson 3-24, Kirkwood 2-21, Lewis 1-20, Ingram 1-1, Line 1-1. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Taylor 1-7. SAINTS: Lattirmore 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Wilson 2-44. SAINTS: Kamara 3-76. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 1-10. SAINTS: Lewis 2-29. SACKS BUCS: Nassib 1-3. SAINTS: Jordan 2-21, Rankins 1-14, Klein 1-4.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14 New Orleans Saints 28 Sunday 9 December 2018 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 12:19-1Q Brate 11 pass from Winston (Santos kick) NO 7:06-2Q Lutz FG30 TB 0:26-2Q Brate 1 pass from Winston (Santos kick) NO 4:43-3Q Line 1 pass from Brees (Kamara run) NO 11:46-4Q Brees 1 run (Lutz kick) NO 7:26-4Q Ingram 17 run (Lutz kick) NO 1:12-4Q Lutz FG36
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud sees fingers being pointed at the Buccaneers Three kicks doomed the Bucs to defeat The offense stalled with Chris Godwin held to one catch Penalties kept restricting Tampa Bay’s progress How Roy Cummings saw the game for Florida Football Insiders Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
COMMENTARY CREW Kenny Albert and Ronde Barber
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 94 Nassib LG 74 Marpet DT 93 McCoy C 66 Jensen DT 50 Vea RG 77 Benenoch RDE 90 Pierre-Paul RT 69 Dotson MLB 53 Taylor TE 82 Auclair WLB 54 David WR 10 Humphries CB 35 Elliott WR 12 Godwin LCB 24 Grimes WR 13 Evans RCB 29 Smith QB 3 Winston SS 31 Whitehead RB 25 Barber FS 26 Adams PLAYED 5 Santos, 9 Anger, 17 Watson, 22 Harris, 27 Jones, 30 Shaw, 32 Rogers, 36 Stewart, 37 Rivers, 41 Minter, 45 Cross, 52 Lynch, 57 Spence, 59 Bond, 61 Wester, 65 Cappa, 67 Liedtke, 84 Brate, 85 Wilson, 89 Sanborn, 91 Allen, 92 Gholston, 97 Curry DID NOT PLAY 14 Fitzpatrick INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 11 Jackson, 21 Evans, 33 Davis, 39 Johnson, 49 Bullough, 56 Nunez-Roches
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays The Bucs went 75 yards on their opening drive to score with Jameis Winston finding Cameron Brate in the endzone The same combination teamed up late in the second quarter to put the Bucs ahead 14-3 The turning point in the game was the blocked punt midway through the third quarter