Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • B3

Tampa Bay Times Monday, November 25, 2019 3B SEPT. 8 49ers 31-17 SEPT. 12 Panthers 20-14 SEPT. 22 Giants 32-31 SEPT. 29 Rams 55-40 OCT.

6 Saints 31-24 OCT. 13 Panthers (at London) 37-26 NOV. 17 Saints 34-17 OCT. 27 Titans 27-23 NOV. 3 Seahawks 40-34 (OT) NOV.

10 Cardinals 30-27 NOV. 24 Falcons 35-22 SUNDAY Jaguars 1 Fox DEC. 8 Colts 1 CBS DEC. 15 Lions 1 Fox DEC. 21 Texans 1 NFL DEC.

29 Falcons 1 Fox redzone SCHEDULE WHAT WE LEARNED JOURNAL Observations from the 35-22 win over the Falcons on Sunday: 1. You might look at Chris stat line and wonder whether the Falcons bothered to cover him. Oh, they did. They just stop the Bucs receiver. Godwin absorbed hits on both of his touchdown catches a 71-yard catch- and-run over the middle in the first quarter, then a you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it grab on third and goal from the 1 in the second quarter.

On the second touchdown, he had to hit the brakes, change direction and reach back for the ball, all while a defensive back smothered him. 2. In all, Godwin caught seven passes for 184 yards, pushing him past the barrier Mike Evans caught four for 50 yards, which also pushed him past 1,000 yards the second time the Bucs have had two receivers in the same season. Evans and Vincent Jackson did it in 2014. 3.

Evans has 1,000 yards in each of his first six seasons. Hall of Famer Randy Moss is the only other receiver to accom- plish the feat in his first six sea- sons. 4. The Bucs did the improb- able! They won a game in which Jameis Winston threw multiple interceptions. They had lost 17 of the previous 21 in which Win- ston threw two or more.

After the first intercep- tion, Fox analyst Mark Schlereth argued that Evans run his route properly and left an opening for Falcons cornerback Desmond Trufant to drive toward the ball. 5. The second interception was more cost- ly. Late in the first quarter, linebacker Campbell picked off Winston at the Tampa Bay 19, and Atlanta was in the end zone six plays later. It was the 11th time this season that an opponent started inside the Bucs 40 after an interception and the seventh time that it scored on its subsequent possession (five touchdowns, two field goals).

6. 20 interceptions this season are the most since rookie DeShone Kizer threw 22 for the 0-16 Browns in 2017. the most by a Bucs quarterback since Josh Freeman threw 22 in 2011. 7. Winston passed for three touchdowns for the 13th time in his career.

Tampa Bay is 6-7 in those games. 8. The 22 points were the second fewest the Bucs had allowed this season (they allowed 14 in their Week 2 victory over the Panthers). The Bucs allow the Falcons to sustain a drive longer than 68 yards until late in the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach. 9.

When NFL analysts talk about offensive balance, they almost always are talking about balance. another interpretation, one advocated by Washington State coach Mike Leach: Offensive balance is spreading the ball around to your playmakers. Speaking of play- makers, the Bucs discovered a new one Sunday: 350-pound Vita Vea. On a second and goal from the Falcons 1 late in the second quarter, Vea snuck into the right flat and Winston hit the nimble defensive tackle for a touchdown. Vea also recorded a sack.

10. a lot easier for a team to achieve balance when it has the lead, as the Bucs did from the middle of the second quarter through the end of the game. Entering Sunday, their offense had an average deficit of 2.2 points at the beginning of drives, which ranked 19th in the league. The average deficit was 3.6 points in 2018, 4.1 in 2017, 2.3 in 2016 and 4.5 in 2015. In other words, leads are rare, and when offenses are trying to catch up, they have to pass the ball.

Teams run when winning. They win when they run. 11. The Bucs rushed for 133 yards, their most in a win this season (they had 100, 88 and 118 in their other wins). Ronald Jones led the way with 51, but Winston rushed for 20 yards for the fourth time in five games.

In that span, he has a total of 162 yards. 12. Bucs defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh scooped up quarterback Matt fumble (forced by Jason Pierre-Paul) late in the fourth quarter and returned it 6 yards for a touchdown, his second of the season. Suh has scored as many touchdowns this season as wide receiver Breshad Perriman and tight end O.J. Howard combined.

13. And just when you thought the Bucs had solved their kicker problem Matt Gay missed three extra points. He has missed five this season and has converted 84.4 percent. The NFL average is 93.7. As bad as the kicking game is, nothing is as bad as their uniforms.

Statistics in this report are from Football Outsiders and Pro Football Reference. Contact Thomas Bassinger at Follow duo; not even INTs can get in the way THOMAS BASSINGER tampabay.com BY JOHN ROMANO AND RICK STROUD Times Staff Writers ATLANTA Remember when Bruce Arians took a delay-of-game penalty to make a field-goal attempt for Matt Gay, who then missed the potential winner from 34 yards against the Giants? Turns out thought process was right. Gay is better bombing kicks from 50 yards away than he is trying to knock in extra points. Gay is 21-of-24 on field- goal attempts this season, but he missed two point-after attempts in 35-22 win over the Falcons and had another one blocked. He is 27-of-32 on extra points this season.

Gay did connect on a 32-yard field goal before the game ended. came back and hit a pretty good field coach Bruce Arians said. was good for Rough day for Gay on PATs JOHN AMIS Associated Press Running back Ronald Jones, heading into the end zone for a touchdown in the third quarter, leads the Bucs with 51 yards rushing on 12 carries. Not running on empty A week ago, the Bucs attempted only eight rushing plays against the Saints, the fewest in a game in team history. On Sunday, despite two early intercep- tions that left them trailing, they stuck with the ground game.

Tampa Bay was rewarded with 133 yards rushing on 34 attempts. Running back Ronald Jones led the way with 12 rushes for 51 yards and a touchdown. Peyton Barber chipped in with 32 yards on 11 carries, and Dare Ogunbowale had a run for 12 yards. Winston used his feet for 38 yards on four carries. Arians credited offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and run-game coordi- nator Harold Goodwin.

thought at halftime, Byron (Leftwich, offensive coordinator) and Goodwin made really, really good adjustments on how we were blocking some inside runs, and we broke a Arians said. throughout the whole game, I thought Byron made some good adjustments. did a good job of running when necessary and making first downs when he had a Injuries Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting suffered a knee injury and did not return to the game in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Devin White was evaluated for a possible con- cussion after a collision with team- mate Carlton Davis but returned to the game. BY JOHN ROMANO Times Columnist ATLANTA Is it possible to be a secret weapon when pushing 350 pounds? Because it sure looked like the Falcons had no idea Vita Vea was even on the field when the Bucs lined up for a goal-line situation late in the second quarter of 35-22 vic- tory.

With Vea lined up as a fullback, Falcons linebacker Campbell ran right past him to chase quarterback Jameis Win- ston. Vea scooted as unobtrusively as a defen- sive lineman can into the end zone and was all alone for his first NFL touchdown recep- tion. still believe it. It just still feels kind of surreal to me. still kind of taking the moment Vea said.

excited to look at my phone and see what all my family and loved ones have to At 347 pounds, Vea is the heaviest player to score an offensive touchdown in league his- tory, nfl.com reported, though that seems more like a scale malfunction because Bears defensive lineman William Perry certainly looked bigger in the 1980s. This weighty matter should not have come as a surprise to the Falcons. The Bucs have used Vea as a blocker in goal-line situations, and having heard tales of his prowess as an oversized running back in high school, it difficult to envision this moment. Bucs coach Bruce Arians said they put the play in at practice Friday. looking at (the goal-line sit- uation, I thought pop out of there pretty Arians said.

was the perfect Just to make his afternoon complete, Vea batted down two passes and got a sack dur- ing his normal working hours on the defen- sive line. there was a lot of weird (stuff in this Arians said. John Romano can be reached at Follow Weighty matter a stunner A late play addition gets 347-pound defensive tackle Vita Veta his first TD catch. JOHN BAZEMORE Associated Press He heavy Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea became the heaviest NFL player to catch a touchdown pass since 1950. a list of the heaviest: Season Player Team Weight 2019 Vita Vea Tampa Bay 347 2003 Jonathan Ogden Baltimore 340 2014 Donald Penn Oakland 340 2013 Donald Penn Tampa Bay 340 2010 Andrew Whitworth Cincinnati 335 1985 William Perry Chicago 335 Source: NFL Research Vita Vea, right, heads into the end zone for a 1-yard scoring pass from Jameis Winston.

Coach Bruce Arians says the play was put in at practice Friday. Bad Jameis, good Jameis This is what you get with Jameis Winston: Two interceptions in the first quarter, including a jump pass behind running back Dare Ogunbowale to set up a Fal- cons touchdown. Then three touchdown passes, two to Chris Godwin and one to defensive tackle Vita Vea. All told, Winston completed 18 of 28 passes for 313 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. His 20 interceptions on the season are a career high and his most through 11 games.

He is only the second player to have that many interceptions through 11 games; Jay Cutler threw 20 in 2009 with the Bears. But it also was the sixth straight 300-yard passing game of career, extend- ing his club record. Winston had 80 family members at the game, which was played 160 miles from his hometown, Bessemer, Ala. very Winston said. have a lot of constructive criticism.

But we got the win, so I have at least a year of street Winston also rushed eight times for 38 yards. complementary Winston said..