JerseyBorn
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Season 12 - Week 2
After starting their season with a win against the rival Atlanta Falcons, the Buccaneers traveled to Arizona to take on the Cardinals in week 2. The Cardinals entered the game at 0-1 as they lost their season opener to the Patriots 38-3.
This game had some sloppy play right off the bat as on the first play from the line of scrimmage Carson Palmer threw a pick. Palmer was looking for Larry Fitzgerald but forced a throw and was intercepted by Josh Robinson. Robinson is the new number two corner now that top corner Brent Grimes is out for the season with a torn pectoral. Tampa Bay started their drive on the Arizona 26 yard line and they got a few good runs out of Doug Martin to get down to the 5 yard line their drive stalled. They turned away from the run game presumably to surprise the Arizona defense but they were ready when Winston forced a throw to Vincent Jackson and Patrick Peterson picked off Jameis. However when the Cardinals took over on offense things didn't go well for them. William Gholston went unblocked on a play and managed to sack Palmer while forcing a fumble that Clinton McDonald picked up and ran into the end zone with for a touchdown. 7-0 Buccaneers was the score at the end of the first.
In the second quarter the Cardinals were able to drive down into the red zone thanks to big receptions from John Brown and Michael Floyd. Then they went to their trusty target, Floyd, on a curl and he delivered. Touchdown Cardinals but Chandler Cantanzaro shanked the extra point wide right and the score was 7-6. Missed kicks made a huge difference in the Buccaneers week 1 game and that trend continued here in week 2. Late in the 2nd the Cardinals were able to get themselves a field goal to take a 9-7 lead but with a little over a minute left Tampa Bay drove down and kicked a field goal to take a 10-9 lead.
Not much happened in the third quarter other than one scoring drive from the Buccaneers. After a fumble and a sack from the Tampa Bay defense, Arizona was forced to punt and thanks to a nice return from Kenny Bell they had solid field position. The offense wasn't able to muster up anything besides another field goal to take a 13-9 lead. In the fourth Arizona got themselves into enemy territory thanks to big catches from Gresham and Floyd but they were ultimately stopped and had to settle for a long field goal. That made the score 13-12 with Tampa Bay still in the lead thanks to the missed Arizona extra point earlier in the game. The rest of the fourth was filled with punts and solid defensive play from both teams. With a little over two minutes left in the game Arizona had a chance to move the ball down the field and all they needed was a field goal to take the lead and potentially win the game. The Buccaneers defense had other plans though as with a little over a minute left they sent Josh Robinson on a corner blitz and he was able to hit Palmer as he threw and the ball was intercepted by safety Bradley McDougald to seal the deal.
Buccaneers win their week 2 game 13-12. That missed extra point by Arizona's Chandler Cantanzaro being the difference maker. Tampa Bay will be heading home for week 3 and they play host to the Los Angeles Rams.
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Key Stats:
Doug Martin: 18 carries, 128 yards, 7.1 YPC
Josh Robinson: 2 INTs
Bradley McDougald: 8 tackles, 1 INT
Michael Floyd: 6 rec, 83 yards, TD
Highlights of the game:
