TAMPA — It was another chapter in the annals of the “Beleaguered Bucs.”
The episodes of rotten luck and creative ways to lose football games found a new definition on Sunday in Tampa Bay’s 32-31 loss to the New York Giants at Raymond James Stadium.
Rookie kicker Matt Gay, who had shown a strong leg and a consistent profile during the preseason, missed a 34-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining which would have allowed Tampa Bay to withstand a scintillating debut by Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. Gay also missed an extra point, having another one blocked in the first quarter.
“I told him keep grinding and to keep digging in,” said quarterback Jameis Winston. “We’ve all got to do our part. We shouldn’t have put him in that situation. He’s going to have another chance and he’s going to make more game-winning field goals than that.”
Jones, making the first start of his NFL career, drew New York even on a 7-yard touchdown run before the extra point on a 4th-and-goal with 1:16 remaining. The Giants had come all the way back from a 28-10 deficit at halftime.
“We’ve just got to execute a game plan,” said Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis. “Obviously, when he’s making easy throws like that, we’ve got to really lock in and just do our job.”
The Buccaneers played one of their best first halves in recent memory as they scored on all six drives. Winston threw three touchdown passes to wide receiver Mike Evans, while Gay made field goals of 52, 47 and 27 yards.
Winston then hit Mike Evans on a 46-yard pass on a fly pattern with 34 seconds remaining. It seemed like Tampa Bay was ready to seize the win as the Bucs took a delay of game penalty to give Gay a better look at the goal posts from the middle of the field.
“I know I didn’t hit the ball clean because it felt like I got a little ground before I took the ball,” Gay said. “I didn’t allow my leg swing to come through.”
Dynamic Duo: Winston and a healthy Evans were lethal for the Giants, especially in the first half. Evans continually exploited Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins as he caught seven passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. His only catch in the second half was the 46-yard pass play to set up the potential game-winning field goal.
“When guys aren’t rolling to his side and he’s able to be Mike, he’s going to do great things,” Winston noted.
At 5-10, Jenkins had a tremendous size differential with the 6-5 Evans. Winston, who finished 23-of-37 for 380 yards, dropped some beautiful passes in Evans’s arms as he had scores from 21, 3 and 20 yards out.
“I wanted to run under it and try and run into the end-zone, but I just wanted to secure the catch and you know get down there,” said Evans of his 46-yard connection with Winston. “I didn’t know how much time was left, but I knew we had a decent amount of time. I should have probably run under it and just run it in.”
Shaq Show: Tampa Bay linebacker Shaquil Barrett had a 3-sack performance in last week’s 20-14 win over Carolina and followed that up with four sacks on Sunday. With the departure of Gerald McCoy just before the season, Barrett is becoming the new sack artist for the Buccaneers.
“He’s just wearing out left tackles,” Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians explained. “It’s nice to be able to have confidence in that four-man rush to be able to play coverage and not have to blitz.”
Barrett came to Tampa Bay on a one-year contract after spending five years in Denver where he had 22 career quarterback sacks.
“Everything is just working and I’m just beating my one-on-ones at the right time and making the play,” said Barrett as he gave credit to defensive end Carl Nassib and the Buccaneers’ secondary.
Giant debut: Daniel Jones’ first start for the Giants was a rousing success in New York, a city that has more judgmental overtones than maybe any other metropolis in the world.
From his first completion which was an 18-yard pass play to tight end Evan Engram to his game-winning seven-yard touchdown run, Jones proved he belonged and in a big way. He completed 23 of 36 passes for 336 yards, while passing for two touchdowns and running for the other two Giants’ touchdowns.
“He was finding his guys,” Arians noted. “He was finding (Sterling) Shepard and he was finding Engram. Those were guys that we were trying to double, but, he did a good job of finding his guys, and we did a good job of sacking him.”
