Rain came and went throughout the afternoon in Cleveland as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns did battle at FirstEnergy Stadium amid intermittent showers. The last one was a bitter rain for the Buccaneers.
A three-yard touchdown run by Nick Chubb with 19 seconds left in overtime gave the home team a 23-17 victory at the end of 70 minutes of hard-fought football. WR Amari Cooper’s 45-yard catch-and-run, after CB Carlton Davis slipped on the wet turf, put Chubb in position to pound it in and avoid what would have been just the second tie in Tampa Bay’s franchise history. TE David Njoku’s stunning one-handed touchdown catch with 32 seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime after the Buccaneers had taken a 17-10 lead on Ko Kieft’s touchdown catch in the third quarter.
“This was tough,” said Head Coach Todd Bowles. “We had so much in all three phases that lost this ballgame, whether it was the return game, their returns on us on punt or a kickoff; defensively, key stops at certain times, penalties to move the ball, letting the run out at certain times, the tackling wasn’t great. Offensively, not being able to get third downs was crucial for us and we let them get to the quarterback too much in the second half.”
After the Browns took a 10-7 lead in the first quarter, the Buccaneers’ defense held Cleveland without points on eight straight possession. Tampa Bay had a chance to put the game away in regulation after forcing a punt with two-and-half minutes left but the Browns got a critical three-and-out, with a Myles Garrett sack forcing the Bucs to punt from their own 10. Chubb’s 28-yard run got the Browns into scoring range before Njoku’s incredible grab over ILB Devin White.
“The guy made a heck of a play,” said Bowles. “The coverage was fine, we knew what we were running, he jumped up and made a one-handed catch. It was out of the reach of Devin, he couldn’t get there and he made a heck of play.”
The Buccaneers’ defense held the Browns to 295 yards in regulation but was worn down at the end by Chubb’s powerful running. The Cleveland back gained 116 yards on 26 carries as part of Cleveland’s 189-yard day on the ground.
“They played hard – we didn’t play smart, we didn’t play physical ball, we didn’t play sound football and we let things go,” said Bowles.
The Buccaneers’ offense finished with 325 yards but persistent troubles on third down – four conversions in 15 tries, including two failed attempts in overtime – kept the visitors from…
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