NFL
Who won Monday Night Football: Giants vs Bucs | Week 11 NFL
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored 20 unanswered points to top the New York Giants on Monday Night Football bringing and end to a two game losing skid.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers tamed talks of a midseason crisis against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football as they snapped a two game losing streak to keep a comfortable distance in the NFC South. Tom Brady had 307 yards and two touchdowns in the Bucs 30-10 win over the Giants.
Arians frustrated with Bucs play in two losses
Losses against the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Football Team had Tampa turning on it head before Bruce Arians side brought an end to the two game skid. Arians said his team was playing “stupid football” in the two losses leading up to the Giants game.
The Bucs made sure not to make the same mistake for a third straight game, as they controlled New York and the scoreboard for the entirety of the four quarters. It took Brady and the Bucs less than four minutes to put scored the first touchdown of the night with a 13 yard Chris Godwin catch and run.
No Brown, but Gronk back for Bucs
Although the Bucs were without Antonio Brown, Rob Gronkowski returned to action after misses a couple games with a back injury. Gronk had six catches for 71 yards in his first game back.
New York got a boost when Saquon Barkley was ruled fit to play after shaking off a lingering ankle injury. It was the first time in a while that Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney were available at the same time for quarterback Daniel Jones and the offense.
The Giants answered with a nice drive of their own to start the game, but they were stopped in the redzone and were forced to settle for the field goal. New York has struggled in the redzone all year, and they came into the game dead last in conversions inside the 20.
Giants pick Brady and had brief share of lead
The Giants were able to draw level on the first and only mistake of the Tampa Bay’s offense. Early in the second quarter Brady was picked by Adorre’ Jackson after his passed pass bobbled by Mike Evans and fell into the hands of the defender.
Two plays later Jones hit offensive lineman Andrew Thomas in the end zone for a two yard touchdown reception and the game was momentarily tied 10-10.
The Bucs jumped back ahead with a Ronald Jones II nine yard touchdown run just before the half. It just seemed like the Giants were hanging on in the first half, and would need to be better in the second half.
Tampa defense holds Giants in second half
The Giants would not get better in the second half and they quickly let whatever little hope they had go as the offense shut off in the final two quarters. New York had just 100 yards in the second half as three of their first four possession of the second half ended in turnovers.
The Bucs stretched the lead 24-10 with their first drive of the third quarter when Mike Evans caught a franchise record 72nd touchdown of his career. Tampa Bay sat back and let the defense and Ryan Succop take the wheel. The defense picked off Jones twice in the second half and Succop hit the three field goals he attempted.
Brady rests in fourth quarter as Bucs move to 7-3
With a 20 point lead, Bruce Arians decided to rest Tom Brady for the last part of the fourth quarter as the Bucs coasted to victory.
It was a comfortable win, but a much needed win for a Tampa team that hadn’t won a game since the 24th of October. The Buccaneers now improve to 7-3 and are trying to keep up with the Arizona Cardinals for home field advantage in the playoffs, while the Giants drop to 3-7 and are now on the outside looking at the NFC Wild Card picture.