3. Buccaneers 27, Falcons 24 (OT), at Raymond James Stadium, Dec. 24, 2005
There was a lot on the line when the division-rival Falcons came to Tampa on Christmas Eve day in 2005. After 15 weeks, the NFC South standings had Carolina at the top with a 10-4 record (though the Bucs had secured a critical win in Charlotte just two weeks early), followed by Tampa Bay at 9-5 and Atlanta at 8-6. A loss to the visiting Falcons could have ended the Bucs' division title hopes and actually would have put them in a precarious position for a Wild Card berth heading into the last week of the season. A win, on the other hand, would all but eliminate Atlanta and give the Bucs a shot at winning the division. As it turned out, Carolina's loss to Dallas on that same afternoon made that a possibility.
The Bucs' offense generated 444 yards of offense and 30 first downs on the day but had trouble on third downs and also committed three turnovers. That turned the game into a back-and-forth affair that included three lead changes and four ties. Chris Simms threw touchdown passes to Jameel Cook and Mike Alstott in the first half but Michael Vick matched that and Todd Peterson's field goal at the end of the half sent the visitors to the locker room with a 17-14 lead.
Nobody scored in the third quarter and then Matt Bryant (who would become a Falcon four years later) came up big again with a 50-yard field goal. T.J. Duckett, who seemed to make a career out of hurting the Buccaneers, put the home team in a bad spot when he scored on a two-yard run after a 37-yard Vick-to-Michael Jenkins connection with four minutes left. That made it 24-17 in Atlanta's favor. With the time remaining, Simms used a series of short passes to get the Bucs down to Atlanta's 15 yards line, but two incompletions and a Joey Galloway catch that came up just short of the sticks, the Bucs faced an all-or-nothing fourth-and-one with 31 seconds left. They trusted their star rookie back, Cadillac Williams, with the ball and he responded by not only getting the few inches needed but also taking it all the way to the end zone to tie the game and send it to overtime.
The drama was far from over. The Buccaneers won the toss but fell immediately into a critical situation when Edell Shepherd fumbled on the opening kickoff return, with Atlanta recovering at the Bucs' 18. Two runs got the ball down to the 10 and the Falcons chose not to risk a turnover, instead breaking out Peterson to try a 27-yarder. Incredibly, defensive end Dewayne White blocked the kick to keep the Bucs' season alive. Almost as incredibly, the reliable Bryant then missed what would have been a game-winning 27-yard field goal three minutes later.
Each team got to midfield on the two ensuing drives but eventually elected to punt. Atlanta's last drive started at its 16 with less than two minutes to go, and the Falcons quickly fell into a fourth-and-two after Barber broke up a third-down pass by Vick. With a minute left, the Falcons essentially could choose to go for it and potentially hand the win to the Bucs if they failed or punt and play for a tie. At that point, even the Atlanta sideline wasn't sure what a tie would do to their playoff hopes. The Falcons chose to punt and Mark Jones returned it 28 yards, just across midfield. Two Simms completions got the ball down to the 23 and Bryan was true this time from 41 yards. The Bucs would then beat New Orleans in Week 17 and win the division on a tiebreaker over the Panthers.
2. Buccaneers 36, Redskins 35, at Raymond James Stadium, Nov. 13, 2005
The Buccaneers would not have been in position to battle for the division title at the end of the 2005 season if this Week 10 game against Washington had slipped away. And while Bryant's 62-yard field goal the next year is one of the best plays ever to finish a Buccaneers game, this shootout win featured one of the best and boldest end-game decisions in franchise history.
The game started in a familiar way, with Mike Alstott scoring on two short runs in the first quarter-and-a-half to stake the home team to a 14-3 lead. Both of Alstott's touchdowns were the results of defensive takeaways, first an interception by Juran Bolden and then a strip-sack by Simeon Rice, who also intercepted Mark Brunell early in the second quarter. A 94-yard kickoff return by Washington's Ladell Betts pulled the visitors close but Simms countered with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Joey Galloway. The score was 21-13 in the Bucs' favor at halftime.
Cadillac Williams fumbled on the first play of the second half, leading to a quick Brunell touchdown pass, and a 42-yard catch by Santana Moss minutes later set up another scoring pass to Betts, giving Washington its first lead of the game, 28-21. Simms hit Shepherd for a 46-yard gain down to the Washington seven on the next drive, leading to Ike Hilliard's four-yard TD catch and another tie game later in the third quarter.
Washington took the lead back seven minutes into the fourth period on a 16-play drive that included a successful fourth-down conversion at the Bucs' 35. Clinton Portis ran around right end for an eight-yard touchdown and a 35-28 lead. The Buccaneers' next drive got all the way down to the Washington 10 thanks to three Galloway catches but when it got to fourth-and-goal at the 12, Head Coach Jon Gruden eschewed the field goal with just under four minutes left. Simms tried to hit Galloway again but the pass was broken up.
Thanks to a final timeout, a big third-and-two stop of Portis by Derrick Brooks and the two-minute warning, Tampa Bay was able to get the ball back one last time with 1:52 left. After short completions to Galloway and Shepherd, Simms spiked the ball to stop the clock at 1:05 and the ball on the Washington 30. On the next play, Simms threw deep down the middle of the field to Shepherd, who made a diving catch as he was crossing the goal line. At that point, a near-certain extra point would likely send the game to overtime.
And, in fact, Gruden first sent out his kicking team to get the tie. Washington defenders responded by getting ultra-aggressive, trying to time their jump across the line with the snap. The first such attempt resulted in a delay-of-game penalty on LaVar Arrington, and Gruden elected to take the five-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff and try the extra point again. This time, cornerback Walt Harris started early and got around the end to block Bryant's kick, but the play was erased with the offside flag on Harris.
Gruden had seen enough. This time he took the yard that the penalty would give his team, with the ball moving to the one-yard line. He pulled Bryant off the field and sent in his offense, with Alstott in the backfield. There were more than 65,000 fans in the Raymond James Stadium fan and almost all of them could predict what was coming next. The only question is which direction Alstott would run. In this case he took the handoff over right guard, absorbing and spinning off a hit well before the goal line. With his second effort lunge he was able to extend the nose of the ball over the plane of the goal line for the winning two points. The play was reviewed and upheld and the Buccaneers got their one-point win.
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