Buccaneers at Cowboys Week 16 Sport Recap: Bucs fall out of division lead with loss in Dallas

Soccer is a sport of inches, but it surely’s additionally a sport of quarters. Let’s dive right into a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of some Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ soccer. With only a half-game lead over the Atlanta Falcons, the Buccaneers took the sphere at AT&T Stadium figuring out they wanted a win to take care of their lead within the NFC South.

First Quarter:

With first place within the divisional race on the road, Tampa’s protection took the sphere to begin. Todd Bowles’ group yielded yards, however factors had been much less accessible. The Bucs’ protection held Dallas to a 58-yard discipline purpose try— Far kick, however an excellent kick. 3-0, Cowboys.

On their second drive, following a failed fourth down conversion, Dallas completed the drive they may not end beforehand. Good discipline place grew to become seven factors and a 10-0 Dallas lead.

Second Quarter:

Photograph by Ron Jenkins/Getty Photos

Quarter quantity two has been a Tampa Bay Buccaneer bugaboo for the frequently fast-starting Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense. Sunday Night time Soccer informed a brand new story. Baker Mayfield took the crew down the sphere for his or her first landing of the night, in a drive the place he discovered Mike Evans for a giant play after which gave the ball to Bucky Irving to let him end it with back-to-back carries and his seventh speeding rating of the season. 10-7, Cowboys.

The following drive, featured CeeDee Lamb’s introduction to the SNF viewing viewers. Lamb, beating the duo of Dean and Izien, flipped the sphere and put the Cowboys in place for one more discipline purpose. Another swing of Brandon Aubrey’s leg gave Dallas three extra factors. 13-7, Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys’ protection continued to do its job, Tampa’s not as a lot. The Baker Mayfield sack, CeeDee Lamb spotlight, Ezekiel Elliott landing run, combo platter gave Dallas their first two-score lead of the sport. 20-7, Dallas.

Amidst their most spectacular drive of the night time, the second drive to closely characteristic Mike Evans, Tampa determined to stall the clock with a questionable timeout. The Buccaneers’ offense instantly scored which meant Todd Bowles’ timeout was a positive one for Dallas. Consensus would have been to bleed the clock down as a lot as doable previous to scoring, nonetheless, Todd Bowles bucked the norm. The Cowboys’ offense stepped again on the sphere with greater than 40 seconds remaining on the sport’s un-bled clock and pushed the road of scrimmage proper again into discipline purpose vary. Whereas Tampa may have gone into the half with the final rating, the crew’s sport administration allowed Dallas to retake their two rating lead earlier than the break. 23-14, Dallas.

Third Quarter:

Photograph by Ron Jenkins/Getty Photos

Out of the intermission, the Bucs’ offense handled followers to the uncommon third down and 40. Unsurprisingly, a primary down being 40 yards away from the road of scrimmage is just not advantageous for the offense— Equally to how a three-man rotation at punter isn’t helpful for a crew. One third down cease, one massive punt return, and one pile of missed tackles later— add three extra factors for the house crew. 26-14, Cowboys.

Because the third quarter trickled into its ultimate minutes, Chase McLaughlin was seen impersonating Brandon Aubrey. 26-17, Dallas.

Fourth Quarter:

Three quarters of a spiraling mess made its clean transition into 4 quarters of a spiraling mess when Baker Mayfield’s first contact of the sport’s ultimate interval was knee-deep in his personal endzone. His first contact, in Tampa’s subsequent drive, should’ve felt eerily comparable. Backed up from the 9 yard line, Baker baked up 20 yards along with his legs, baked up quick ball to Trey Palmer however, then he left a ball within the oven too lengthy and located Jourdan Lewis for the mistaken form of completion— interception, Dallas’ ball.

Photograph by Ron Jenkins/Getty Photos

Confronted with adversity, Baker Mayfield and the Bucs’ offense took the ball down the sphere and shrunk the deficit to 2 with a landing move to Ryan Miller.

Tampa Bay’s protection, backed right into a must-stop scenario, proved ready. Stepping up-to-the-minute, Vita Vea’s third down sort out gave the Buccaneers yet one more shot at a win— A shot that may miss the mark. On Tampa Bay’s first snap— Baker Mayfield, regardless of holding on to the ball whereas strolling with a Dallas defender draped on his hips, flipped a move to Rachaad White who proceeded to fail in sustaining the extent of ball safety his quarterback demonstrated simply seconds prior. Fumbled soccer recovered by Dallas— Brace kneel down.

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