TAMPA- In the same matchup last season at The Coliseum in Los Angeles, Tampa Bay had themselves a banner day through the air. Some would say it was a turning point for the offense.
Jameis Winston threw for 385 yards, four touchdowns, and led the Buccaneers to a thrilling 55-42 win over the Rams on the road. This time around and later on in the season, it wasn’t anywhere quite near what Tampa Bay was able to put together; like at all. Now the questions will swirl around Tampa on what exactly went wrong once again.
Tom Brady turnovers will become much of the talk all week leading into the Buccaneers’ next matchup when they face the Kansas City Chiefs, as two interceptions doomed Tampa Bay in a 27-24 loss on Monday Night Football. The loss brings the Buccaneers to 1-3 in primetime games, with the lone victory being a narrow one over the New York Giants.
A lot of questions will be surrounding Brady this week, with many bad throws hindering the Buccaneers’ offense from getting anything going. It all starts though, with the lack of a run game. After Ronald Jones rushed for 192 yards last week versus Carolina, the tailback was nowhere to be found on Monday night. Jones was held to a mere 24 yards on 10 carries.
It would be the Rams’ defense that ended up putting the clamps down on an offense on this night, with Los Angeles holding Tampa Bay (7-4) to less than 300 yards of offense. Los Angeles’ quarterback Jared Goff also out-dueled Brady in the quarterback matchup, as he threw for 376 yards on 39-of-51 passing for three touchdowns. Brady ended the night completing 26-of-48 passes for 216 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Despite the bad outing altogether, Tampa Bay still had themselves in a position to win the game late in the fourth quarter. After Matt Gay hit a 40-yard field goal to put the Rams (7-3) ahead 27-24 with 2:36 remaining, Tampa Bay got the ball back with plenty of time to go down the field and score. The last of Brady’s turnovers occurred when he took a shot downfield for Cameron Brate and was picked off by Jordan Fuller.
Now the Buccaneers will welcome a hot Kansas City Chiefs (9-1) into town, who defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 35-31 on Sunday Night Football. Maybe the one good thing everyone can look at is the Buccaneers are 6-1 in games that are not played in primetime slots. After the Buccaneers face the Chiefs, they will have a bye week and then have four straight games to end the season.
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.
