Tampa Bay Buccaneers 32 Atlanta Falcons 34 Sunday 30 December 2018 at Raymond James Stadium FOX COMMENTARY CREW Dick Stockton and Mark Schlereth
Dirk Koetter’s final game as Buccaneer head coach ended in a narrow loss although the bigger picture did see Tampa Bay secure the 5th overall pick with the defeat. Jameis Winston had another 300-yard passing game with four TD passes and the Bucs had a 17-0 lead just before the half before the Atlanta offense got into gear. The Falcons’ final drive went 56 yards on 13 plays in the final 5:10 before former Tampa kicker Matt Bryant won it.
GAME SCORING TB 3:48-1Q Evans 19 pass from Winston (Santos kick) TB 8:25-2Q Santos FG36 TB 0:46-2Q Godwin 30 pass from Winston (Santos kick) ATL 0:20-2Q Jones 19 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick) ATL 8:49-3Q Ryan 5 pass from Sanu (Bryant kick) TB 6:39-3Q Santos FG45 ATL 1:59-3Q Bryant FG49 ATL 0:44-3Q Coleman 23 run (Bryant kick) ATL 10:51-4Q Ridley 7 pass from Ryan (Bryant kck) TB 8:09-4Q Evans 10 pass from Winston (pass failed) TB 5:10-4Q Godwin 19 pass from Winston (pass failed) ATL 0:00-4Q Bryant FG37
GAME REPORTS Eduardo Encina reports on another close loss to end the 5-11 season Mike Evans and Chris Godwin had record-breaking days Could this have been Gerald McCoy’s final game as a Buccaneer? The defense just could not stop third down conversions after half-time Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 97 Curry LG 74 Marpet DT 93 McCoy C 66 Jensen DT 50 Vea RG 77 Benenoch RDE 90 Pierre-Paul RT 69 Dotson WLB 54 David TE 82 Auclair MLB 53 Taylor TE 84 Brate DB 33 Davis WR 12 Godwin LCB 24 Grimes WR 13 Evans RCB 35 Elliott QB 3 Winston SS 31 Whitehead RB 25 Barber FS 26 Adams PLAYED 5 Santos, 9 Anger, 10 Humphries, 17 Watson, 22 Harris, 27 Jones, 29 Smith, 32 Rogers, 36 Stewart, 39 Johnson, 49 Bullough, 52 Lynch, 57 Spence, 59 Bond, 61 Wester, 65 Cappa, 67 Liedtke, 78 Ledbetter, 85 Wilson, 86 Ernsberger, 89 Sanborn, 91 Allen, 92 Gholston DID NOT PLAY 4 Griffin INACTIVES 11 Jackson, 14 Fitzpatrick, 30 Shaw, 37 Rivers, 56 Nunez- Roches, 88 Hudson, 94 Nassib
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Barber 15-66, Winston 2-23, Rodgers 3-3. FALCONS: Coleman 8-45, Hill 8-30, Langford 9-25, Ryan 4-7, Sanu 1-2. PASSING BUCS: Winston 35-22-345-1-4. FALCONS: Ryan 44-31-378-1-2, Sanu 1-1-5-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Godwin 6-114, Evans 6-106, Humphries 5-66, Brate 2-39, Wilson 1-16, Barber 1-2, Rodgers 1-2. FALCONS: Jones 9-138, Sanu 7-90, Hooper 5-67, Ridley 5-32, Gage 2-14, Paulsen 1-19, Hill 1-9, Coleman 1-9, Ryan 1-5. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Adams 1-13. FALCONS: Kazee 1-2. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Wilson 3-91. FALCONS: Hall 4-80. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 2-9. FALCONS: Hardy 2-28. SACKS BUCS: Pierre-Paul 1-3. FALCONS: McKinley 1-4.