It was wet, it was sloppy, it was ugly, and the ending sure was wild as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers knocked off the Washington Redskins in Washington 17.16.
With the Redskins trailing by 7, Santana Moss caught a touchdown on what looked to be 5th down with 9 seconds left in the game and it all signs pointed towards overtime in one of the years ugliest games. But on the extra point Graham Gano’s already miserable day got worse as his holder fumbled the snap not giving him a chance to send the game into overtime, and allowing the Buccaneers to complete yet another fourth quarter comeback.
One series earlier, Josh Freeman added another chapter to his comeback handbook finding Kellen Winslow deep down the middle of the field for a 41-yard touchdown pass, giving the Buccaneers their first lead of the day. On the subsequent 2-point conversion, Freeman took the snap from shotgun and lowered his shoulder pads and drove two Redskins linebackers into the endzone to give the Buccaneers the 7 point lead that they would need every single point of.
The Redskins dominated the first half of the game, led by running back Ryan Torain who racked up 158 yards in the games first two frames, but two Graham Gano missed field goals and some questionable clock management allowed the Buccaneers to hang around trailing by only 7. In the third quarter the Buccaneers added two field goals and found some success on defense, holding the Redskins scoreless and forcing three three and outs before things got wild in the final quarter.
Tampa Bay did not play their best football today, far from it, but they were able to hang around and make enough plays at the end of the game to win the football game. The Buccaneers move to 8-5 and with the Lions stunning the Packers today they find themselves right back in the wildcard picture with games against Detroit and Seattle at home coming up.