LOS ANGELES — Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians wrote in big letters on the team’s dry erase board this week, “Finish.” After surrendering an 18-point lead at the half and losing to the New York Giants at home last week, the Bucs found themselves in a similar predicament against the Los Angeles Rams on the road Sunday.
But this time, they set a franchise single-game scoring record to upset the defending NFC champions 55-40 and improve to 2-2 (2-0 on the road).
The Bucs jumped out to a 21-point lead and picked off quarterback Jared Goff twice before surrendering two touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the second quarter. But even as momentum swung heavily in the Rams’ favor, the Bucs maintained their composure. Even after Marcus Peters‘ pick-six against Jameis Winston in the fourth quarter cut the lead to five, the Bucs managed to do what Arians has been preaching incessantly since he got to Tampa Bay: “Bucs can’t beat Bucs.”
Now they get a shot at grabbing the lead in the division over the next two weeks with a trip to New Orleans and a rematch with the Carolina Panthers in London.
Winston matched a career high with four touchdowns, while Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones scored rushing TDs and former Rams defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh recovered a Shaq Barrett strip sack and returned it for a score with 1:17 to go to seal the win.
Winston connected with Chris Godwin for two scores — the first on a jump ball in the corner of the end zone and the second on a screen pass. Winston’s decisiveness and the Bucs’ commitment to a balanced attack helped slow the Rams’ pass rush.
The Bucs scored four touchdowns on their first six possessions in the first half, but unlike last week, when they mustered just three points in the second half, they didn’t take their foot off the gas, scoring 20 points after halftime — a 58-yard field goal for Matt Gay, a short pass to tight end Cameron Brate, a 67-yard bomb to Mike Evans and a 21-yard field goal from Gay.
The Bucs scored 28 points off four Goff turnovers, including three interceptions. The first came on a deflected pass by outside linebacker Barrett that landed in the hands of safety Jordan Whitehead. The second came on third-and-4, when linebacker Lavonte David jumped a slant route. Then in the third quarter, Goff was picked off by Barrett at the Tampa Bay 43 following a hard hit by inside linebacker Kevin Minter.
But they still allowed Goff to pass for 517 yards. He became the 23rd quarterback to pass for more than 500 yards in a game, and the first since Tom Brady in the New England Patriots‘ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
The Bucs were 5-for-5 in the red zone (including four touchdowns), which was a huge point of emphasis this week after going 1-for-5 in the red zone last week.
Scoring in the red zone has been a problem this season for the Bucs. Heading into Week 4, they scored just three touchdowns off 11 red zone possessions (27.3 percent, 31st in the league).
Gay, who last Sunday missed a 34-yard field goal attempt that would have won the game, missed an extra point and had another PAT blocked, made all six extra points and two field goals against the Rams.