Winston, Buccaneers miss opportunity

Sep 21, 2017 - 7:48 PM TAMPA, Fla. -- For all the struggles and despite a 70-minute rain delay, the Tampa Buccaneers had a chance to beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, with four shots from the 15-yard line in the final 26 seconds.

They came up empty on three Jameis Winston incompletions and then a final play when Winston scrambled beyond the line of scrimmage as time expired but never committed to running for the winning touchdown, caught from behind by Rams defensive end Robert Quinn to end the game.

The Rams came away with a 37-32 victory.

"That was just dumb on my part," Winston said of not throwing earlier or committing to running for it. "That was bad. I've got to get somebody a chance there. ... I wish I had eyes in the back of my head so I could have seen him."

The Buccaneerss had 70 minutes to prepare for the two-minute drill and still didn't use one of their two timeouts when Charles Sims was stopped inbounds at the 15 on a play that started with 49 seconds left. When the next play started, there was 26 seconds left, and that time could have helped in a game that ended on second down at the 5-yard line.

"We had a lot of time left," Winston said. "Chuck (Sims), he made a good play. He got us that first down, which was needed. I've just got to hit open guys."

The Buccaneers had thrown only two passes the entire game to veteran Vincent Jackson, then found him for a 16-yard gain on the first play of the final drive. They tried to connect with Jackson again, missing on all three in the final minute.

Winston completed 36 of 58 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.

The Buccaneers dropped to 1-2, but their next two games are against Denver and Carolina, last season's Super Bowl teams, raising the real possibility that Tampa Bay could be 1-4 when it goes into their bye week in Week 6.

Tampa Bay lost despite piling up 254 yards of offense in the fourth quarter and outgaining Los Angeles 472 yards to 320 yards. Five more yards on that final drive and the Buccaneers would have had a victory.