Tampa Bay came close to scoring on an insane final play, but the ball just went through Desean Jackson’s hands and out of bounds.
With time running out, the Jameis Winston-led Bucs were driving down the field in need of a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons. Trailing 34-29, they were out of timeouts and had just spiked the ball. How this was going to finish was predictable. Winston would drop back three times and try to make a dart or two to the end zone.
There just wasn’t enough time left to try and dump the ball off and gain extra yards. Maybe they could have thrown one to the sideline, but closing distance to the end zone can tighten a defense up. Space was at the Bucs’ advantage here. But Tampa Bay, seeing that advantage of space and the precarious situation they were in, tried to catch the Falcons defense completely off guard. They didn’t go for a pass play, but instead a run and lateral.
Winston, seeing the field completely open ahead of him, darted forward and when Falcons defense closed around he pitched the ball back. It wasn’t clean though and the Bucs started to fumble it around. Despite this, Tampa Bay held on to the ball and managed to pitch it twice more and had set up everything perfectly. Desean Jackson, near the sidelines, had blockers and space to the end zone. He just needed a clean pitch to run with. He didn’t get one.
