if the Week 1 victory in New Orleans surprised the NFL in general, this one totally stunned them. Another 400-yard performance by Ryan Fitzpatrick who became only the second QB in NFL history to throw four TD passes in each of the first two games of the season. Two big plays to Desean Jackson and OJ Howard were the hlghlights but the defense did its part despite playing with rookies everywhere in the secondary.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Barber 9-23, Rodgers 4-13, Wilson 1-9, Fitzpatrick 1-(-1). EAGLES: Clement 6-30, Smallwood 5-24, Ajayi 4-17, Foles 3-8, Agholor 1-2. PASSING BUCS: Fitzpatrick 33-27-404-1-4. EAGLES: Foles 48-35-334-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 10-83, Godwin 5-56, Jackson 4-129, Howard 3-96, Rodgers 3-23, Humprhies 1-8, Barber 1-7. EAGLES: Ertz 11-94, Agholor 8-88, Clement 5-55, Aiken 5-39, Perkins 4-57, Ajayi 1-4, Smallwood 1-2. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. EAGLES: Darby 1-16. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 1-13. EAGLES: none. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Humphries 3-18, Jackson 1-11. EAGLES: Clement 2-13, Agholor 1-0. SACKS BUCS: McCoy 1-9, Pierre-Paul 1-4, Alexander 1-0. EAGLES: Cox 1-7, Bradham 1-2.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27 Philadelphia Eagles 21 Sunday 16 September 2018 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 14:49-1Q Jackson 75 pass from Fitzpatrick (Catanzaro kick) PHI 4:51-2Q Clement 15 run (Elliott kick) TB 4:39-2Q Howard 75 pass from Fitzpatrick (kick failed) TB 0:42-2Q Godwin 8 pass from Fitzpatrick (Catanzaro kick) TB 9:19-3Q Evans 4 pass from Fitzpatrick (Catanzaro kick) PHI 0:09-3Q Ajayi 2 run (Elliott kick) PHI 2:46-4Q Agholor 2 pass from Foles (Elliott kick)
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud reports on another stunning Buccaneer victory How Roy Cummings saw it unfold for Florida Football Insiders Martin Fennelly offers his opinion on the dream start for the Bucs OJ Howard shook off a mistake by coming back with a huge play Welcome to Tampa Bay - Desean Jackson Kwon Alexander - “an emerging blitzer” Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 97 Curry LG 74 Marpet DT 93 McCoy C 66 Jensen DT 91 Allen RG 77 Benenoch RDE 90 Pierre-Paul RT 69 Dotson MLB 58 Alexander TE 80 Howard WLB 54 David TE 45 Cross DB 36 Stewart WR 13 Evans LCB 29 Smith WR 11 Jackson RCB 33 Davis QB 14 Fitzpatrick SS 23 Conte RB 25 Barber FS 21 Evans PLAYED 7 Catanzaro, 9 Anger, 10 Humphries, 12 Godwin, 16 Martino, 22 Williams, 31 Whitehead, 32 Rogers, 35 Elliott, 38 Wilson, 39 Johnson, 48 Cichy, 52 Lynch, 53 Taylor, 56 Worthy, 61 Wester, 62 Smith, 82 Auclair, 84 Brate, 89 Sanborn, 92 Gholston, 94 Nassib, 95 Clarke DID NOT PLAY 4 Griffin INACTIVES 17 Watson, 24 Grimes, 27 Jones, 50 Vea, 57 Spence, 65 Cappa, 67 Liedtke
COMMENTARY CREW Kenny Albert, Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Desean Jackson got things started on the very first play of the game OJ Howard’s 75-yard run and catch score was the longest of his career Chris Godwin made it three touchdown passes in the first half for Ryan Fitzpatrick