Advertisement

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jameis Winston leads win over Jacksonville Jaguars

By The Sports Xchange
Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fought past the Jacksonville Jaguars in a preseason game Thursday. Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI
Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fought past the Jacksonville Jaguars in a preseason game Thursday. Photo by AJ Sisco/UPI | License Photo

Jameis Winston led Tampa Bay to three successive scoring drives in the first half to power the Buccaneers to a 12-8 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night at EverBank Field.

Winston engineered an 83-yard drive in 11 plays on Tampa Bay's first possession. The third-year quarterback hit on 5-of-6 passes for 54 yards in guiding the Bucs to a score. Doug Martin went over from two yards out for the touchdown. Jacksonville's Calais Campbell blocked Nick Folk's extra-point attempt.

Advertisement

Winston then directed a 54-yard march in eight plays and a 50-yard march in 12 plays on Tampa's next two possessions, but both drives stalled inside the 20. Folk, who was signed by the Bucs this week, converted on field goals of 35 and 29 yards.

Winston played the entire first half and completed 21 of 29 passes for 196 yards and had a quarterback rating of 90.6. Tampa Bay finished with a 240-59 advantage in total yards in the first half. The Bucs had 16 first downs and held the Jaguars starting offense to just four first downs.

Advertisement

Jacksonville starting quarterback Blake Bortles was ineffective in his four series in the first half. Bortles competed 8 of 13 passes for 65 yards and was sacked once. The Jaguars only crossed midfield one time while Bortles was in the game.

Jacksonville's best play in the first half came in the closing minutes when Keelan Cole returned a punt 31 yards that gave the Jaguars a first down at the Tampa Bay 23. With backup Chad Henne at quarterback, the Jaguars missed on two scoring plays when Cole and Allen Robinson dropped passes in the end zone. Jason Myers then missed a field-goal attempt from 40 yards.

Jacksonville got on the scoreboard midway in the fourth quarter when third-string quarterback Brandon Allen connected with Marquez Williams from four yards out for a touchdown with just under eight minutes left in the game. Myers' extra-point attempt was no good.

The Jaguars had a chance to win the game, marching to the 2-yard line with just over a minute left in the game, but couldn't connect on two pass attempts in the end zone. The Bucs took an intentional safety with 36 seconds left in the game to complete the scoring.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines