Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 New Orleans Saints 31 Saturday 24 December 2016 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
SCORING NO 0:57-1Q Ingram 6 run (Lutz kick) TB 10:50-2Q Brate 12 pass from Winston (Aguayo kick) NO 6:45-2Q Lutz FG42 NO 0:00-2Q Lutz FG34 NO 14:01-3Q Ingram 14 run (Lutz kick) TB 8:38-3Q Rodgers 3 run (Aguayo kick) NO 6:20-3Q Cadet 11 pass from Brees (Ingram run) TB 1:52-3Q Evans 34 pass from Winston (Aguayo kick) NO 11:55-4Q Lutz FG21 TB 2:00-4Q Aguayo FG35
The Bucs’ playoff chances realistically ended in New Orleans when the succession of injuries to the receiving corps and offensive line just left them too out-manned to compete in a scoring shootout with the No.1 offense in the NFL. Trailing 13-7 at half-time, a botched kick return and interception led to a quick Saints’ score and from then on, trailing by two scores for the second half was too much for Jameis Winston and his colleagues to overcome. The Bucs played without Doug Martin who was named a healthy inactive and they lost TE Cameron Brate to injury during the second half leaving them with nothing more than Mike Evans as a target for Winston.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Rodgers 15-63, Winston 3-14, Sims 3-12. SAINTS: Ingram 18-90, Hightower 8-29, Kuhn 1-3, Brees 4-1. PASSING BUCS: Winston 35-23-277-2-2. SAINTS: Brees 34-23-299-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 7-97, Sims 4-30, Shepard 3-61, Huff 2-24, Myers 2-21, Rodgers 2-15, Brate 1-12, Humphries 1-12, Cross 1-5. SAINTS: Thomas 6-98, Cooks 5-98, Fleener 2-30, Snead 2-21, Cadet 2- 16, Philips 2-15, Ingram 2-3, Hightower 1-11, Kuhn 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. SAINTS: Byrd 2-35. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Huff 2-17. SAINTS: none. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 2-24. SAINTS: Lewis 0-0. SACKS BUCS: David 1-4, McDonald 1-1. SAINTS: Rankins 1-10, Jordan 1-7.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 91 Ayers LG 62 Smith DT 93 McCoy C 68 Hawley DT 98 McDonald RG 74 Marpet RDE 75 Lambert RT 64 Pamphile MLB 58 Alexander TE 88 Stocker WLB 54 David TE 84 Brate SLB 51 Smith WR 89 Shepard LCB 28 Hargeaves WR 13 Evans RCB 24 Grimes QB 3 Winston SS 37 Tandy RB 32 Rodgers FS 30 McDougald PLAYED 9 Anger, 11 Humphries, 15 Huff, 16 Martino, 19 Aguayo, 21 Verner, 23 Conte, 26 Robinson, 29 R Smith, 34 Sims, 35 Elliott, 43 Barber, 45 Cross, 48 DePaola, 52 Lynch, 53 Glanton, 57 Spence, 66 Wester, 70 Siliga, 77 Benenoch, 82 Myers, 96 Russell, 97 Spence DID NOT PLAY 8 Glennon INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 18 Reedy, 22 Martin, 67 Hughes, 69 Dotson, 78 Cherilus, 92 Gholston
COMMENTARY CREW Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud sees the Bucs pushed to the edge of playoff elimination Tom Jones reports on a game that will haunt the Bucs more than any other Greg Auman’s notes column leads with more TDs for Evans and Brate Scott Smith’s detailed game report Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the clips Another week another Cameron Brate touchdown reception Jacquizz Rodgers dives in from three yards out for the second Buccaneer score Mike Evans was back on the scoreboard beating former Buc Sterling Moore for this touchdown