Buccaneers Defeat 49ers to End Losing Streak

Last week’s motto for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seemed to be, “find a way to win.” Well, they did just that on Sunday afternoon when they ended a four-game skid with a 27-9 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Sharp performances all around helped the Bucs get back to their winning ways in front of their home crowd. After the game, quarterback Jameis Winston talked about how his team performed and referenced what his head coach Dirk Koetter says.

Complimentary football will win you games.

Bucs WIN!#GoBucs | #RaiseTheFlags pic.twitter.com/7O8hauXyRy

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 25, 2018

Winston was also back in as starting quarterback and had an impressive performance completing 29 of 38 passes for 312 yards with two touchdowns.

Game Recap

The Bucs offense, defense and QB were in peak form yesterday afternoon and the stats below prove just that. Before settling on the numbers alone, let’s take a look at how they got there.

The Bucs led the offensive stats race, while also racking up four sacks and two interceptions on the day.#GoBucs https://t.co/JiW1nmP8z9

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) November 25, 2018

Tampa Bay was on the board first with a touchdown pass from Winston to Cameron Brate, which put them up 7-0 to close out the first quarter. The 49ers retaliated in the second quarter with a TD of their own with a pass from quarterback Nick Mullens to Dante Pettis. However, this TD did not tie up the game because the extra point was no good. So, the 49ers trailed the Bucs 7-6 until Tampa tacked on more points later in the second.

Heading toward halftime, the Bucs scored a pair field goals (41-yard FG and 39-yard FG) to add six more points to their lead, which put them at 13-6 to close out the first half of the game.

San Francisco was eager to get back into this game and to try and close the gap between them and the Bucs. Minutes out of halftime, they got a field goal and shortened the Bucs lead to 13-9. Then minutes later, the Bucs offense came alive.

On a 2-yard rush by Peyton Barber, the Bucs scored a TD, which extended their lead halfway through the third quarter. Then, they did it again. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Winston passed to Adam Humphries, who brought it in for another TD. The 49ers were trailing 27-9 and their misfortunes didn’t stop there.

To close out the game, San Francisco had back-to-back interceptions from which they couldn’t recover or score again. The final at Raymond James was 27-9.

Koetter & Players Reactions

Following his team’s victory, Koetter shared his thoughts on Winston’s performance. He said, “I’m not sure what it took, but he did it. He did it and that’s really all that matters is he did it.” Adding shortly after that Winston was not perfect out there, but he played a good game.

The locker room was buzzing with players boasting about the game and how good it felt to get the win.

https://twitter.com/Buccaneers/status/1066826018202238977

What’s Next?

Next up, the Bucs will host Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers on Sunday with kick-off set for 1 p.m. in an NFC South match-up. Right now, the Panthers are ranked 2nd in the NFC South with the Bucs one spot behind them at third.