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Greg Auman
NFC South Reporter
TAMPA, Fla. — If you have to play a football game on Christmas Eve, it’s nice to play it at home, and if it’s not asking too much, it’s nice to be up 30-0 in the third quarter.
The Bucs didn’t pull their starters Sunday, but it was the kind of game in which they could have, cruising to a 30-12 win over the Jaguars, enjoying their fourth straight win and sending Jacksonville home with its fourth straight loss.
“Huge, complementary football,” coach Todd Bowles said after the Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” blared from a jubilant locker room. “It’s the kind of football you want to play in December. Defense got turnovers, offense cashed in.”
Tampa Bay (8-7) is alone atop the NFC South standings and can clinch a third straight division title with a home win next week against the Saints, or a victory against the two-win Panthers in the season finale.
“It says a lot about the group that has gone through a big rough patch there in midseason,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “To stick it out and win four in a row, to be in control of our own destiny at this point, is great. It says a lot about the character we have.”
Mayfield continued his strong play in the team’s win streak, throwing for two touchdowns to Mike Evans — they’ve connected for 13 this year to top the NFL — in leading the Bucs to points on their first six drives. Rachaad White’s touchdown in the third quarter made it a 30-0 lead, and the outcome was never in doubt, even as Calvin Ridley caught two touchdown passes for the final margin.
Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence was cleared from concussion protocol Saturday but barely practiced all week, and he threw as many interceptions in the first half (2) as he had in the previous five games. He left the game in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury, and with a three-way tie atop the AFC South standings with the Colts and Texans, the Jaguars might have to…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/bucs-win-fourth-straight-game-look-to-clinch-nfc-south-title-next-week
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Publish date : 2023-12-25 02:07:32
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