Bucs take the high road

Winston, Godwin, Suh come up big in team’s record-setting victory

LOS ANGELES— Jameis Winston passed for 385 yards and threw two of his four touchdown passes to Chris Godwin, and Ndamukong Suh returned Jared Goff’s fumble 37 yards for a touchdown with 1:06 to play in the Buccaneers’ 55-40 victory over the previously unbeaten Rams on Sunday.

Godwin had career highs of 12 catches for 172 yards as the Bucs (2-2) jumped to an early 21-0 lead and then scored 24 points in a wild fourth quarter to complete the highest-scoring game in the franchise’s 44-year history.

The Bucs still barely held off the defending NFC champions, but Suh’s TD return against his old teammates capped an impressive win for first-year coach Bruce Arians.

Goff passed for a career-high 517 yards and two touchdowns, but the Rams’ $134 million quarterback also threw three interceptions for the second time in his career. Goff then fumbled while being sacked by Shaquil Barrett as the Rams (3-1) attempted a tying drive, and Suh scooped and scored against the team with which he reached the Super Bowl last season.

Peyton Barber and Ronald Jones II rushed for TDs, and Cameron Brate also had a TD reception. Winston picked apart the Rams secondary while going 28 of 41, and Godwin had the most catches by a Bucs receiver since Keyshawn Johnson in 2001 — and it almost wasn’t enough.

The Bucs went up 45-27 with 11:35 to play when Mike Evans burned Marcus Peters for a 67yard TD capped by some goalline showboating. But after Cooper Kupp caught a 29-yard TD pass, Peters returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown with 8:11 to play.

Peters scored despite taking a helmet-to-helmet hit at the goal line from left tackle Donovan Smith that kept him out of the rest of the game under evaluation for a concussion.

The Bucs went back ahead by eight on Matt Gay’s short field goal with 2:35 left.