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
