Heeeeeey, the Bucs finally won one, 36-33, despite the game doing nearly everything it could to take it away from us!
It turns out I was almost bang-on about Michael Turner shredding us for three TDs. He actually finished the game with two TDs and a two-point conversion, to go along with 173 rushing yards and 52 receiving yards. His first TD was a monstrous 38 yarder, wherein he broke a four or five-person tackle, cut upfield, and broke another tackle before carrying the ball in.
Jack English wasn’t quite as bad as last week – he only threw one INT – but it was still a rather mediocre outing, as he went 5 for 26, for 126 yards and one TD. But once again, the O-line folded with the slightest breeze, his best receivers had several drops, and when he did have guys wide open, with no one in front, he was invariably way off target. He did have the best rushing average in the game, though, with 12 yards on two QB sneaks.
It didn’t help that the Falcons were batting balls down like it was going out of style. Houston finished the game with seven deflections, for them, along with one sack and one INT.
Ward and Graham did their jobs on the ground, and while neither broke 100 yards, both gave us some key downs when we needed them the most. Graham picked up two TDs for his efforts, both in goal line situations.
But we wouldn’t have won were it not for LOLB Jermaine Phllips’s 70-yard interception return in the last minute of the game. That was key. So was third-string HB Clifton Smith’s 91-yard punt return; the only score of the third quarter. But we muffed the extra point following Graham’s first TD, driving it off the inside corner of the uprights (hey, it was windy – a steady 14 MPH blowing left to right). And then English got sacked on the two-point attempt following the Smith return.
The Falcons, meanwhile, managed two make two two-point conversions. And they managed to march down the field with less than a minute left on the clock, put up eight points, and try for the onside kick. Fortunately, Sammy Stroughter (I think) recovered it for us.
Except for Turner, the Falcons were by and large horrible, except on third down, or right after I scored. When they had the lead, they were awful, but as soon as I pulled ahead, they were unstoppable. And they consistently threw five receivers at me.
We were lucky to escape with this victory.
