Winston, Bucs look to keep playoff hopes alive

Losses in two of their last three have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playoff hopes in dire straights.

Numerous fans filling the stands at St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome Thursday night might be getting a sensation of déjà vu right about now. The game could be the final home contest for… The Rams, despite sitting at 5-8, have not yet been eliminated from playoff contention, while the 6-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now two games back of an NFC Wild Card bid. They’re 11 in the league in both total offense and defense, and have solid young players all over the field. Kroenke and his team are working to resolve those issues, but the bigger issue is that St. Louis has come up with a counter-offer to build a new stadium on the riverfront.

The Buccaneers and Rams will play each other on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 8:25 p.m. EST on the NFL Network. Winston won’t be the only Rookie of the Year candidate battling tonight when we watch Thursday Night Football live streaming or on TV.

“The crowd was into it. It was a lot of fun”. “As we’ve done all year, we have to worry about doing our jobs and handling what we can control”. Austin has always been a speedster and it would be important to see him get involved early and often so that the Rams can keep things going. “And now we’ve got to take advantage of it”, Winston said.

The Rams (5-8) also might be moving to Los Angeles next season but that doesn’t seem to be a big concern for their apathetic fans. “I’m not very good at things I can’t control”.

The halftime deficit was the Buccaneers’ largest since they were down 35-7 against Tennessee in their opening 42-14 loss. Tampa Bay is still in the thick of the playoff hunt, while the Rams playoff dreams are now on life support. But on this night, in this season, it was close enough. He didn’t have a huge game but did manage to score his ninth touchdown of the season and reached 1,000 rushing yards. “The Rams” passing game has been non existent, as Case Keenum has averaged 130 yards through the air in his two starts this season. And in the process he passed Gurley for the team touchdown lead with his 10th of the season.

So it was that with key members of those great offenses such as Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Orlando Pace and Torry Holt in attendance, the Rams’ offense finally provided some offensive fireworks. Lean toward the home team here.

Donald’s two-year total of 20 sacks leads National Football League defensive tackles over that period and is eighth-most overall.

“Even through the worst years, we have stayed loyal”, McDonough said.

“You’re used to playing at one o’clock, but now you’re sitting around and there’s nothing really that you can do at the point besides wait”, Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter said. Otherwise we’re talking about a pair of inconsistent teams with losing records in a tossup game.

The Bucs got the ball to start the third quarter down 21-3, and they immediately got to work, actually relying on the pass – and it worked, with Mike Evans making a pair of ridiculous catches (one negated by penalty), dropping a ball (oops), and Adam Humphries turning a low pass into a first down.

The Rams also said wide receiver Stedman Bailey is out of intensive care at a Miami-area hospital.