Buccaneers: Jameis Winston’s second half comeback attempt falls short

Jameis Winston lit the world on fire in the second half of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss to the New York Giants.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-7) came just shy of overcoming a double-digit fourth quarter deficit thanks to Jameis Winston. The Bucs would come up short in the end, losing to the New York Giants (3-7), 38-35. However, Winston proved that he belongs under center for the rest of the season.

After taking over for ineffective starter Ryan Fitzpatrick, Winston led the Buccaneers on four straight touchdown drives. With the Bucs trailing by 10, Winston delivered a beautiful pass to Mike Evans to cut the Giants lead to just three.

The Bucs defense would get a stop, but Tampa Bay wouldn’t receive enough time to try and tie the game up. Still, the game was trending towards a blowout after Fitzpatrick threw for three interceptions, including a pick-six.

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Winston managed to turn the game around and make it seem like another “Miracle in the Meadowlands” was about to take place. By the final whistle, Winston threw for 199 yards with a pair of touchdowns to boot.

Now, Winston wasn’t perfect. He was fortunate to have Mike Evans land on top of his fumble at the goal line on his first drive off the bench. Adam Humphries also played tremendous defense on a pass that should have been picked off.

Regardless, Winston showed enough to get the starting job back.

Winston was able to bring the Bucs back into the ball game late in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay’s historically awful defense couldn’t get a pivotal stop, a common occurrence this season.

Injuries ravaged the Bucs defense this week, and multiple practice squad players were forced into action against the Giants. It showed. Eli Manning had his best game in nearly three years. He threw for 231 yards, completed 17-of-18 passes and added a pair of touchdowns.

Tampa Bay allowed Saquon Barkley to bulldoze its defense all game long. Barkley ended his day with 152 yards from scrimmage, three touchdowns on 29 touches.

Odell Beckham Jr. also torched the Tampa Bay secondary for 74 yards and a touchdown. The key for Tampa Bay was to contain the Giants’ stars; they couldn’t manage to do that. The scoreboard tells the entire story.

Aside from a1.5 sack performance from Jason Pierre-Paul and a two-sack day for Gerald McCoy, the injury-riddled unit had no chance, even against a lackluster New York attack.

Along with Winston, a few Buccaneers offensive weapons performed well. Evans exploded for six receptions, 120 yards and a touchdown. After a pair of poor performances from the Bucs top wideout, Evans returned to form on Sunday.

Peyton Barber continued to prove himself on the ground. He rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown. If the Buccaneers weren’t playing from behind every week, Barber would likely be among the league leaders in yards.

The Bucs will look to snap their four-game losing streak against the San Francisco 49ers next week.