2018game15

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 Dallas Cowboys 27 Sunday 23 December 2018 at AT&T Stadium

A bad football team will always find a way to lose. And with multiple key penalties and two turnovers that led to 14 points, the Buccaneers lost their 12th game in 13 attempts in Dallas. A fumble return touchdown and a botched reverse handoff that gave the Cowboys the ball inside the five were the difference makers as the Tampa defense posted his best performance of the year based on yardage. But in the end it was a third straight loss for the Bucs.

SCORING TB 12:08-1Q Santos FG37 DAL 7:07-1Q Prescott 7 run (Maher kick) DAL 1:41-1Q Smith 69 fumble return (Maher kick) TB 9:13-2Q Santos FG45 DAL 1:43-2Q Maher FG59 TB 0:20-2Q Rodgers 2 run (Santos kick) DAL 3:41-3Q Maher FG20 DAL 2:23-3Q Gallup 4 pass from Prescott (Maher kick) TB 2:05-4Q Evans 7 pass from Winston (Santos kick)

GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud sees time running out in the game and on the season The turnovers were what ultimately doomed the Bucs in this one DeSean Jackson returned but may be out once more Cairo Santos had a long distance miss which summed up the kicking woes again 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

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Barber 17-43, WInston 4-14, Jackson 1-4, Rodgers 2-2. COWBOYS: Elliott 18-85, Prescott 4-2, Smith 2-(-7). PASSING BUCS: Winston 48-34-336-0-1. COWBOYS: Prescott 25-20-161-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Humphries 10-79, Rodgers 7-55, Evans 6-90, Godwin 3-39, Barber 3-13, Wilson 2-28, Brate 2-8, Jackson 1-24. COWBOYS: Beasley 5-50, Elliott 5-24, Cooper 4-20, Gallup 3-53, Jarwin 2-8, Brown 1-6. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. COWBOYS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Wilson 2-69. COWBOYS: Jackson 1-20. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 0-0. COWBOYS: Beasley 1-13. SACKS BUCS: Vea 1-9. COWBOYS: Collins 1-8, Lawrence 1-8, Gregory 1-0.

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 SLB 59 Bond TE 82 Auclair MLB 53 Taylor WR 10 Humphries WLB 54 David WR 12 Godwin LCB 24 Grimes WR 13 Evans RCB 33 Davis QB 3 Winston SS 31 Whitehead RB 25 Barber FS 26 Adams PLAYED 5 Santos, 9 Anger, 11 Jackson, 22 Harris, 27 Jones, 29 Smith, 32 Rogers, 36 Stewart, 39 Johnson, 49 Bullough, 52 Lynch, 57 Spence, 61 Wester, 65 Cappa, 67 Liedtke, 84 Brate, 85 Wilson, 86 Ernsberger, 89 Sanborn, 91 Allen, 92 Gholston, 97 Curry DID NOT PLAY 4 Griffin INACTIVES 14 Fitzpatrick, 17 Watson, 30 Shaw, 37 Rivers, 56 Nunez- Roches, 78 Ledbetter, 88 Hudson

COMMENTARY CREW Joe Buck and Troy Aikman

GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays A sack on Jameis Winston led to a fumble return touchdown for the Cowboys Jacquizz Rodgers’ first touchdown of the season brought the Bucs to within four at the half A late score to Mike Evans left the Buccaneers needing an onside kick to have any chance of success