Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21  Atlanta Falcons 24 Monday 18 December 2017   at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING ATL 6:54-1Q Hardy 6 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick) TB 1:52-1Q Howard 30 pass from Winston (Murray kick) ATL 12:56-2Q Toilolo fumble recovery in endzone (Bryant kick) ATL 3:12-2Q Bryant FG57 TB 8:31-3Q Evans 42 pass from Winston (Murray kick) ATL 7:58-4Q Freeman 32 run (Bryant kick) TB 4:07-4Q Humphries 16 pass from Winston (Murray kick)
On Monday Night Football against a playoff-bound Falcon team, with the distraction of Jon Gruden’s induction into the Ring of Honor, the out-manned and out-gunned Buccaneers came within a whisker of an upset.  Jameis had his best game of the season but the breaks did not go Tampa’s way as three fumbles all went the way of the Falcons and Patrick Murray’s game-tying 54-yard fieldgoal attempt sailed just wide as time expired.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Barber 13-53, Winston 3-18, Jackson 1-7, Humphries 1-6. FALCONS: Freeman 22-126, Ward 8-40, Ryan 3-29, Gabriel 1-3, Sanu 1-3. PASSING BUCS: Winston 35-27-299-0-3. FALCONS: Ryan 31-17-212-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 5-79, Humphries 5-43, Brate 4-49, Sims 4-6, Barber 3-15, Howard 1-30, Cross 1-23, Godwin 1-18, Auclair 1-14, Jackson 1-11, Martino 1-11. FALCONS: Freeman 5-68, Jones 3-54, Hardy 2-33, Sanu 2-23, Gabriel 2-16, Hooper 2-12, Ward 1-6. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. FALCONS:  none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Rodgers 2-62. FALCONS:  Roberts 4-108. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 2-30. FALCONS: Roberts 2-17. SACKS BUCS: McDonald 1-3. FALCONS: .Jarrett 0.5-1.5, Clayborn 0.5-1.5.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 91 Ayers LG 64 Pamphile DT 98 McDonald C 62 Smith DT 90 Baker RG 73 Sweezy RDE 92 Gholston RT 77 Benenoch MLB 58 Alexander TE 80 Howard WLB 53 Glanton TE 45 Cross SLB 51 Beckwith WR 11 Jackson LCB 24 Grimes WR 13 Evans RCB 29 Smith QB 3 Winston SS 23 Conte RB 25 Barber FS 21 Evans PLAYED 7 Murray, 9 Anger, 10 Humphries, 12 Godwin, 16 Martino, 26 Robinson, 32 Rodgers, 34 Sims, 35 Elliott, 36 McClain, 37 Tandy, 43 Ward, 49 Bullough, 59 Bond, 65 Sanborn, 66 Wester, 68 Hawley, 79 O’Connor, 82 Auclair, 84 Brate, 94 Clarke, 95 Russell, 96 Siliga. DID NOT PLAY 14 Fitzpatrick. INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 22 Martin, 28 Hargreaves, 54 David, 67 Liedtke, 85 Wilson, 93 McCoy.
COMMENTARY CREW Sean McDonough and Jon Gruden
GAME REPORTS How Rick Stroud saw the game unfold The injuries for the Buccaneers kept piling up Martin Fennelly offers his game grades How Roy Cummings saw the game for Florida Football Insiders Doug Martin was declared inactive for breaching team rules Jon Gruden’s induction into the Ring of Honor was a half-time treat Scott Smith’s official game report The NFL Gamebook and play-by-play
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays OJ Howard scored his sixth touchdown of the season but was injured on making the play Mike Evans finally found himself the receipient of a long touchdown reception Jameis bought himself some time and threw his third touchdown pass of the night to Adam Humphries.