What The Bucs?

The Buccaneers knocked the defending NFC Champion Rams from the ranks of the unbeaten on Sunday with a 55-40 win at the L.A. Coliseum. Tampa Bay built an early 21-point lead thanks to a pair of interceptions and two Chris Godwin touchdowns, then saw the Rams chip it away to one score in the second quarter. But the Bucs never actually relinquished the lead this time thanks to four takeaways, vastly improved work in the red zone, four touchdown passes by Jameis Winston and quite a bit more from Godwin.

The win evened the Bucs’ record at 2-2 and improved their road mark to 2-0. Tampa Bay had blown an 18-point lead the week before at home to lose to the New York Giants, 32-31, but just as they did with a rousing Thursday Night win in Carolina in Week Two, the Bucs didn’t let their disappointment linger.

“It’s always going to come down to the last five minutes, and it’s how we play those last five,” said Head Coach Bruce Arians. “You had a lead, you gave up part of it, and you got it back. It was a really, really big drive, going back and getting those points. There was no panic on our sideline; there was a lot of belief. I think we answered whether we were tough enough to handle a tough loss, because we had a great week and showed up against a good quality opponent on the road.”

Not that it was easy. A 32-yard interception return for a touchdown by Rams CB Marcus Peters, on one of the very few mistakes Winston made all day, made it a 45-40 game with eight minutes still to go, representing one of the many momentum shifts in the wild game, which included 982 yards from scrimmage and 95 points. But the Bucs answered with a clutch five-minute field goal drive and when the Rams were driving in the final two minutes in an attempt to force overtime, OLB Shaq Barrett came up big once again.

“[The win] was huge,” said Cameron Brate. “Long trip, going against the defending NFC Champions – I don’t think too many people had the Bucs winning this one. We had belief in the locker room and obviously we came out firing in the first quarter. We had a little bit of a lull but we [came back strong].”

Godwin, who was limited for most of the week in practice by a hip injury, finished the game with a career-high 12 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He was Winston’s favorite target, but the Bucs’ passer also made a key play with a 67-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans in the fourth quarter that represented another huge momentum swing. Winston finished with four touchdown passes, 385 yards and a 120.5 passer rating.