Rookie QB Winston Ties League Rookie Record for TD

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay rookie quarterback Jameis Winston, who had thrown two interceptions and no touchdowns in his previous two outings, torched the Eagles for five TD passes (his previous high had been two), no interceptions and a QB rating of 131.6.

Martin averaged 8.7 yards per carry while rushing for 235 yards – the most in the National Football League since the fourth-year pro ran for 251 against Oakland as a rookie in 2012. Martin continued to make plays from nothing, somehow escaping out of tiny holes and turning them into huge gains. That’s come from the offensive side of the ball, and that view has clouded how that defense has played for the majority of the season. My hat will come off one more time for Adam Humphries and Cameron Brate who had some big-time catches yesterday. “If everybody’s doing that, we should start getting better”.

While those miscues were inexcusable, the Bucs were still able to take advantage of seemingly sound defense. Or was Winston’s accuracy enough to keep the Birds off guard enough for the Tampa Bay running attack to succeed?

He couldn’t deny, though, that the ability to overcome adversity and put together a drive such as the one Tampa Bay opened the second half with on Sunday are signs the Bucs are making the progress necessary to at least be a part of the playoff conversation.

Then there was the Philly run defense.

“To be a leader, first off, you have to be a good football player”, for teammates to buy into following, Smith said.

“You watch the way they just got destroyed yesterday, they stink”. “We’ve had situations like that in the past where we’ve had a couple of penalties and all of a sudden everything goes awry”. It was those big runs. “You’ve got to get better every single day”.

Meanwhile, Martin ran for 177 yards in the first half and the Bucs out-gained the Eagles 356-312 in the first half. I think it was the complete opposite of that. They have the wrong players. But he has kept his composure and looked like a smart first overall pick.

Merrill Reese stated multiple times during yesterday’s game that Jameis Winston had “all day” to throw. Per the metrics from numberFire Live, Winston had 21.48 Passing NEP in this game, surpassing his total Passing NEP from the season of 13.82.

“No one is happy about what our record is right now”, said Kelly. Nor was his timid in pointing that out.

“I don’t think anybody played well today”, Kelly said. “I’ve always wanted to play here my whole life since I was a little boy”.

“It’s amusing, when you win and that happens, everybody says, ‘Those two guys are really competitive.’ When [Patriots QB] Tom Brady yells at [Patriots WR] Julian Edelman and they win the game, [people are talking about] what a competitor the quarterback is”.

“We got a whooping”, Davis said.

With that, the Eagles moved on, hoping that the defensive collapse was a one-time event.

I wonder if he realizes how lucky he is that he faced this incarnation of the Eagles defense instead of the one that was lead by Jimmy Johnson and featured Brian Dawkins, Hugh Douglas and others. That’s the challenge right now. “We both are competitors, we both are trying to win and emotions kind of get going in a loss like that”.