Jameis Winston ties
Rookie throws 5 TDs; RB gains 235 yards
NFL rookie record with five TD passes as Bucs roll Eagles 45-17.
PHILADELPHIA — The Buccaneers spent a little more time than usual celebrating their 45-17 victory over the Eagles inside their quaint Lincoln Financial Field locker room late Sunday afternoon.
Why? Well, quite frankly, it took them a while to hand out all the game balls.
On a cold, blustery day during which the Bucs reached the .500 mark for the first time in eight weeks to claim a spot on the outer edges of the NFC playoff race, two of their young stars led the way.
Coming off a pair of games in which he’d failed to throw a touchdown pass against two interceptions, rookie quarterback Jameis Winston set a rookie franchise record by throwing five touchdown passes to five different receivers. He also tied an NFL record shared by the Bears’ Ray Buivid (1937) and the Lions’ Matthew Staf-
ford (2009) for most touchdown passes by a rookie in a game, as well as the Bucs franchise record for most touchdown passes in a game.
Running back Doug Martin, meanwhile, had the longest run in franchise history at 84 yards, and his 235 rushing yards were the second-most in franchise history, behind his 251-yard effort as a rookie at Oakland in 2012.
“That was insane,’’ defensive lineman Gerald McCoy said of the performances the Bucs received from Winston and Martin. “It’s great when one of your dilemmas is, ‘Who’s going to win Player of the Week?’ That was just crazy.’’
The only thing crazier is the Bucs’ place in the playoff race. A team that had no right to even utter the word playoffs two weeks ago is just one game out a wild-card berth, tied with Seattle for seventh overall in the NFC.
But that’s what winning consistently can do for a team. And with back-toback wins for the first time in two years — Tampa Bay broke the NFL’s longest active streak without consecutive wins at 31 games — the Bucs can actually say they’re doing that.
Since a 1-4 start under second-year coach Lovie Smith, the Bucs have won four of their past six games to reach 5-5. And they’ve done it the past two weeks with solid contributions from both the offense and the defense.
While the offense gained 521 yards, the most in 35 years and secondmost in franchise history, the defense forced three takeaways and held an opponent to 17 points or fewer for the second time in as many weeks.
“I’ve talked a lot about how we’re making progress,’’ Smith said. “Everyone would like for their favorite team to peak the first week of the season, but that normally doesn’t happen. It takes a while.’’
The Bucs’ offensive style is to run the ball to set up play-action passes downfield.
They managed to stick to that pattern from the beginning, thanks mostly to Martin.
After breaking an 11-yard gain on the first offensive play of the day, he added a 58-yard run four plays into the second drive and finished the first half with what amounted to a season-best 177 yards rushing.
“I don’t go into a game thinking I’m going to get these kinds of stats,’’ Martin said. “I really just want to let the game come to me, and today everything was clicking for us.’’
It was clicking for Winston, too, especially on third down.
He came into the game with a 64.1 passer rating on third down, but produced a 132.2 rating against the Eagles, completing nine of 12 throws for 81 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
“It was a great game plan,’’ Winston said. “And guys are playing with confidence. When guys are confident, it’s hard to stop them.
“I know Tampa Bay is happy because this is the first back-to-back wins we’ve had in a long time,” Winston said. “But we can’t get complacent.”