McLaughlin & The Bucs Boot The Jets Out Of Tampa

By Peter Mann

It’s been a busy old weekend for kickers in the NFL, although not the most in regards Field Goals, but it’s certainly up there; some 52 FGs were made (with a game still to play) and, with one game not having any converted – Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots we blame you – but the New York Jets at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that had the most, with seven.

Not only that, it could have easily been more but for PK Chase McLaughlin’s blocked, yes blocked, attempt by DE Will McDonald IV, who returned for a 50yd TD inside the final two minutes to give the Jets a 27-26 lead.

That missed score by McLaughlin was fifth of six scores, finishing with 5/6, 55lng, 2/2PATs, 17pts on a crazy afternoon in Tampa; his opposite number, PK Nick Folk, also made 2/2, 42lng, 3/3PATs, 9pts, as the two franchises traded blows throughout.

Come the end, the result meant that the Jets slipped to an 0-3 start, whilst the Bucs moved 3-0 for only the third time since the turn of the Millenium, and just the second since 2005, on both those occasions they made the playoffs before losing in the Wild Card match-ups.

There’s a long way to go this season before that comes, but they can take hope both from that, and from the way in which they’ve started the current campaign, becoming the first franchise of the Super Bowl era to three successive wins with the game-winning score in the final minute of the game.

The Bucs beat Atlanta Falcons in the opener with a TD score from WR Emeka Egbuka, following a 25yd pass from Baker Mayfield, with 59secs remaining, they then saw off Houston Texans with a close-range score from RB Rachaad White with six seconds on the game clock, before Sunday’s game-winning kick, on the buzzer, from McLaughlin, deflated the visiting Jets.

You can also add into that scenario a fourth game, they Bucs having beaten Pittsburgh Steelers in the second of their three pre-season games in a similar manner, McLaughlin booting home a 42yd FG on the buzzer there to seal a 17-14 success, back in mid-August.

Here though, and with similar scenarios being played out across a handful of other, NFL match-ups, the Bucs and Jets put on an exciting display and, at one stage early in the contest, the hosts looked like they were going to run away with it.

At their Raymond James Stadium, after having traded FGs early on, the Bucs raced ahead in the second quarter following a pair of TD scores; the Jets had led through a Folk 38yd FG midway through the first quarter, with McLaughlin tying it up at threes with a 54yd FG of his won six-and-a-half minutes later.

Folk again out the Jets ahead early in the second with a 42yd FG, but the Bucs were sure as having none of that, Mayfield coming out of his shell a little to fire a TD pass to Mike Evans, then, with under twenty seconds left in the half, CB Jamel Dean scored off a 55yd interception return when Tyrod Taylor’s pass intended for Garrett Wilson fell short and was claimed by the Bucs’ cornerback for the score.

With that score the Bucs HC, Todd Bowles, in his fourth season at the helm, saw his side go in at the half with a fourteen-point, 20-6 lead, one which was stretched a little further in a quiet third quarter, to seventeen points, when McLaughlin fired home a 28yd FG.

The Jets though, they rallied in the fourth; in danger of being blown out of sight, Aaron Glenn’s charges, he in his first NFL HC posting, not only flipped the contest on its head, but had the nerve to lead going into the final, two minutes.

It was all fun-and-games in that final quarter though, the Jets flying in with three TDs, Tyrod Taylor connecting first with Garrett Wilson from eleven yards to move them within ten, then with WR Allen Lazard from close-range, following a Replay Official review with on-field ruling standing.

In between those Taylor passes McLaughlin added a fourth, this a 55yd FG, to keep the Bucs’ noses in-front, they needed it as well for, seconds after the two-minute warning had been sounded, something incredible happened, both on-field, and on the touchline.

McLaughlin went for his fifth FG attempt (43yds) of the game only to see it blocked by the leaping McDonald, over the Bucs’ centre-guard, burst through the two opposing players in front of him, recovered the football, and sprinted for an incredible, 50yd return score.

Alongside that, and on the Jets touchline, HC Aaron Glenn, emphatically joined in the celebrations, sprinting the distance pretty much himself whilst also busting out some impressive dance moves in response to the score.

Those celebrations however were short-lived courtesy of, you guessed it, the boot of Chase McLaughlin, and with no blockage in sight this time, alongside a third timeout by the Bucs, the well-travelled kicker, in his third season in Tampa, placed a 36yd FG between the posts to snatch a two-point, 29-27 victory.

Stats-wise and the Bucs quarterback, Baker Mayfield, now in his eighth season overall and third in Tampa, posted 19/29, 233yds, 2TDs, whilst his opposite number for the Jets, quarterback Tyrod Taylor, now in his fifteenth season and second with the ‘Legacy Green and White’ side of New York, put up 26/36, 197yds, 2TDs.  

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
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