The Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked to try to win their second straight game Sunday in Miami against the Miami Dolphins. Miami won the opening coin toss, and deferred, giving the ball to the Buccaneers to start the game. While the first play on offense picked up 16 yards as Ryan Fitzpatrick hit Mike Evans to open the game, the offense was only able to pick up a single first down, and while the Buccaneers defense was able to get good pressure on Jay Cutler on the first play on defense, Damien Williams took a hand-off 69 yards to put the ball on the Bucs 12-yard-line.
Just when the Dolphins going ahead looked inevitable, Bucs rookie Justin Evans intercepted the football in the end zone to swing possession back to the good guys. A Doug Martin carry and a pair of big Fitzpatrick passes to O.J. Howard later, and the Bucs were in the end zone. The drive would stall there, but Patrick Murray came in to hit the 30-yard field goal to put Tampa Bay ahead 3-0.
The Dolphins next drive got off to another good start as the Bucs defense made a sloppy Miami offense look pretty good, and aided them with a 15-yard taunting penalty by T.J. Ward, who taunted Jarvis Landry after the Dolphins wide out picked up 12 yards and a first down after making a great catch, leaving anyone paying attention to wonder what the hell Ward could be taunting about. A couple plays later, Cutler had the Dolphins back in the red zone. Moments later it was Jay Cutler finding Jarvis Landry for an easy touchdown and it was 7-3 Dolphins.
The Dolphins looked like they weren’t in the mood to play defense Sunday afternoon either, as Fitzpatrick started the next drive by finding Desean Jackson for 24 yards. Fitzpatrick was able to drive the Bucs deep into Dolphins territory again, but again the team stalled short of the end zone and sent Murray in to pull the game to within a point at 7-6 early in the second quarter.
The Bucs defense looked much better on the following drive, stopping the Dolphins short on back to back runs, and then it was Kwon Alexander picking off a Cutler pass on third down and returning it to the 10-yard-line. A facemask call on the Fins gave the Bucs a 1st-and-goal at the Dolphins 5-yard-line. Two plays later Fitzpatrick found Howard in the end zone, allowing the Bucs rookie tight end to celebrate his birthday with a touchdown, and allowing the Bucs to take their second lead of the game, pulling ahead 13-7 with just over 12 minutes to play in the half.
The Bucs defense came away with a takeaway again on Miami’s next drive, as this time it was Robert McClain picking off a Cutler pass to give the Bucs great field position, starting at the Dolphins 26. The Bucs drive once again stalled, and the Bucs once again sent Murray out to extend the six-point lead, but Murray missed his second attempt, and the lead remained 13-7.
While it’s been a rough season for the Buccaneers, one area of great improvement this season has been penalties, where the team had been one of the most penalized teams in football over the last couple of seasons, but Sunday, that wasn’t the case. The Bucs could have moved the ball deep into Dolphins territory early on the following drive, but a block in the back on Ali Marpet wiped out a 30-yard screen pass to Martin.
It looked like the Dolphins might run off most of the rest of the half on their next possession, but Ryan Smith made a great play, forcing and recovering a Jarvis Landry fumble, putting the offense back on the field at the Dolphins 37-yard-line. The Bucs should have been inside the red zone on the following play, but Howard dropped a Fitzpatrick pass just inside the 20. A play later, it was Mike Evans making the grab at the Dolphins 8-yard-line to set up a 1st-and-goal. A couple plays later Kiko Alonso picked up an unnecessary roughness call on Fitzpatrick, setting up another 1st-and-goal, and Fitzpatrick would take advantage, finding Desean Jackson in the end zone to put the Bucs ahead 20-7 heading into the half.
The Dolphins started the second half of the game with the football, and with Cutler in concussion protocol. Matt Moore took the reins of the Miami offense after the half, and within moments, the Dolphins new quarterback was finding Landry for big yardage, and the Fins were in the red zone. A pass interference on McClain later, and the Dolphins had a 1st-and-goal at the 1-yard-line. Just after that, it was Moore finding Anthony Fasano for a Dolphins touchdown, but an offensive pass interference call pushed Miami back to their own 11. The penalty helped the Bucs defense stand up the Dolphins and hold Miami to a field goal, keeping the Bucs ahead by two scores with a 20-10 lead.
With the Dolphins putting points on the board to start the second half, the last thing Tampa Bay needed was going 3-and-out, but that’s exactly what the Buccaneers offense did, and it wasn’t long before the defense was giving up big yardage, and the Dolphins were once again on the red zone’s doorstep. The Bucs defense was aided by Dolphins penalties to be able to finally once again hold Miami to a field goal attempt. Cody Parkey came in for Miami again and pulled the Fins to within a touchdown, making the score 20—13.
The momentum remained with Miami despite being held to a pair of field goals in the second half. Moore had already well surpassed Cutler’s production in the team’s first two drives out of the half, and the defense once again held the Bucs to a 3-and-out, reclaiming the football down by just a touchdown with about a minute and half left to play in the third quarter.
Even a brilliant Brian Anger punt and a holding call on old friend Alterraun Verner which caused the Dolphins to start their following drive at their own 5-yard-line wasn’t enough to get the Bucs defense off the field quickly as the team gave up a first down on a 3rd-and-11 to the Dolphins from the shadow of their own goal posts. The Dolphins who started with awful field position, began the fourth quarter looking at a 2nd-and-8 from their own 25-yard-line.
After the team’s exchanged punts, the Bucs avoided disaster when Fitzpatrick was sacked on third down at the half yard line, and it looked as if it may have been a safety. After Miami challenged the play, the call was upheld and the Bucs were able to punt out of their own end zone.
Miami failed to take advantage on a drive that they would start in Buccaneers territory, as they turned the ball over on downs when the Bucs came up with a huge stop on 4th-and-1. Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, they couldn’t take advantage of Miami’s turnover on downs either, as it wasn’t long before Anger was once again sending the football Miami’s way.
The Bucs defense propensity for giving up big plays reared its ugly head next, as Matt Moore found an absolutely wide open Kenny Stills on a 61-yard touchdown pass and suddenly the Dolphins had come back to tie the football game up at 20 a piece with exactly three minutes remaining on the game clock.
After looking completely stagnant much of the second half, the Bucs offense moved the ball on the crucial drive that followed, with rookie Chris Godwin pulling in a pair of big catches, including a first down at the 20-yard-line with just under a minute and a half remaining. The Bucs were able to run the ball down to the game's final seconds and send Patrick Murray in for the game winner. The Bucs added six more when Adarius Glanton recovered a fumble in the end zone as he Dolphins attempted a wacky kick off return. The Final score after the extra point was 30-20 Bucs.