It was not a perfect game by any means. But it was a complete game as the Buccaneers played their best game since week two in Carolina as they beat the Falcons on the road 35-22.
It was not a perfect game, but the offense and the defense complimented one another in the win as both sides of the ball made plays when they had to.
The Bucs improved to 4-7 on the season and picked up their third road win of the season.
it was a good day for the Bucs wide receiver duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin as both went over 1,000 yards receiving on the season in the win. Godwin has 1,071 yards and Evans has 1,043 yards on the season.
Godwin had his best game of the season as he had eight catches for 184 and two touchdowns including a 71 yard touchdown catch. This was the fifth game of the season that Godwin has gone over 100 receiving yards.
Godwin has been the Bucs offensive MVP through the first 10 games of the season and is second in the league with 1,071 receiving yards and also leads the NFL with nine touchdowns.
Winston despite his two interceptions early in the game settled down and was able to make some plays with his legs, and his arm in the Buccaneer win.
Winston has learned when to run as opposed to standing in the pocket to force a play and potentially causing a turnover.
in addition to his 313 yards passing, Winston also ran for 38 yards against the Falcon defense and has 200 yards rushing on the season and is averaging five yards per run.
This was also one of the best performances of the Bucs maligned offensive line as they did not allow a sack, and allowed Winston to get hit just once inside the pocket.
One key reason is that the Bucs offensive line has been relatively healthy this season when compared to last season.
Defensively Devin White just seems to get better and better every game, and White along with Lavonte David are fast becoming one of the best linebacker duos in the NFL.
White was able to harass Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan all afternoon and recorded his first two sacks of the season.
White should be given heavy consideration for defensive rookie of the year at the end of the season. White is second on the team with 62 tackles despite missing two games with an injury.
The front seven defensively had their best game of the season recording six sacks and everyone getting in on the sack party.
Vita Vea, Jason Pierre-Paul, Carl Nassib, Shaq Barrett, all notched a sack with Devin White recording two sacks.
Barrett is tied with Chandler Jones of Arizona for the league lead in sacks with 12.5. Warren Sapp has the all-time Buccaneer record with 16.5 sacks in a season.
Defensive back Carlton Davis had his first pick of the season and this one counted. Davis has had a pick or two in other games, but they were nullified due to penalties.
Two negatives from this game. Kicker Matt Gay missing on three extra points. Fortunately, it did not cost the Bucs a win, but the missing extra points is something that Gay will have to continue to work on as these points are extremely important.
The interceptions by Jameis Winston. Winston now has 20 on the season to go with his 22 touchdown passes and is on pace to throw 30 picks. That would put him in the top ten all-time for interceptions thrown in a season.
Winston threw five picks against Carolina in week six, and four picks against New Orleans in Week 11.
The all-time interception record should be safe. George Blanda is the holder of that record as he threw 42 in 1962 for the Houston Oilers. The all-time Buccaneer record for interceptions in a season is 35 set by Vinny Testaverde during the 1988 season
Bruce Arians in his post game victory speech called it a good win in all three phases of the game.
It wasn’t perfect, but it goes in the win column.
The next six opponents have a combined 23-31-1 record and only Houston, and Indianapolis have a chance at the playoffs. A good chance for the Bucs to get a few more wins and surpass the record of 5-11 which the Bucs have finished with the last two seasons.
The Bucs will play in Jacksonville next Sunday at 1PM.
