It appeared for a moment that Terrell Owens was going to be a non-factor during his game playing for the Buffalo Bills. Then in the next minute, fans were spilling their popcorn as they celebrated throughout Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Just when the offense of the Bills needed a spark, Owens provided it with his touchdown of 43 yards with five minutes gone in the fourth quarter, as the Bills beat the Buccaneers 33-20 on Sunday.
With help from their opportunistic defense led by their safety Donte White, Buffalo was able to put their lingering frustrations from last week aside, where they squandered a lead of 11 points during the final 2:06 of the game and lost to New England 25-24 in the season opener.
After the game Owens didn’t hang around to talk about things. Apparently he is unhappy with the way some of the media questioned him for refusing to talk after the Patriots game.
Teammates of T.O. Were very excited to see the deep threat presence of Owens pay off finally. The touchdown came after he had been limited to just two catches and 9 yards receiving, and coming after Buffalo had almost blown a 17-0 lead versus Tampa Bay.
Trent Edwards, Bills quarterback said, we were both excited. I don’t really remember what we said. I just hope honestly that it continues to happen. That is why we got him.
Edwards showed his faith in Owens when he hit him while in stride right at the goal line, where he was one step ahead of Aqib Talib, Buccaneers cornerback.
It was also a sign for Edwards that he is starting to shed the “Captain Checkdown” label he earned during the preseason. He showed once again the he isn’t afraid going deep when he connected on a touchdown pass of 32 yards with Lee Evans to open the scoring up. Edwards went 21 for 31 for a total of 230 yards with an interception and two touchdowns.
Evans said, it all comes down to having opportunities. Trent was not afraid of taking chances. You need to always have the deep play as a threat. I think today that we put it out there on the table that we would do that.
The win for Buffalo ended their five game losing streak at home, and also occurred during the first home game for Owens since he signed a one year deal in March with the Bills.
The Bills being able to capitalize against the once highly respected Tampa Bay defense certainly helped, as the Buccaneers continued giving up long passes after their season opener 34-21 loss last week to Dallas.
In the Bills two games under Raheem Morris, their new rookie head coach, Tampa Bay has allowed 900 offensive yards including Buffalo’s 438.
Ronde Barber, veteran cornerback for Tampa Bay said, they were able to dial some things up against us that we really should have been able to stop, but we didn’t. Refusing to speculate over what was going wrong, Barber replied that you should ask the coaches. I am not going to make any kind of statement on that.
In addition to the two long passes for touchdowns that they gave up, Barber was unhappy as well with missed tackles on Fred Jackson, Bills running back, which enabled him to gain 163 yards rushing.
Barber said, it is totally unacceptable. Good defenses are all good tackling defenses.
Coach Morris tried to keep an even keel, although he clearly was unhappy with the defense and Tampa Bay’s lack of discipline. The Buccaneers had 13 penalties for a total of 112 yards.
Morris said, I am not really worried in terms of their confidence. But they have to play better.
On a more positive note, the offense for the Bucs does continue to be productive. Byron Leftwich was 26 for 50, passing for a total of 296 yards and had three touchdowns as well as two interceptions. One of the interceptions bounced off receiver Sammie Stroughter’s hands.
Kellen Winslow had a total of 90 receiving yards and scored a touchdown. Jerramy Stevens and Carnell Williams scored as well.
It appeared that Buffalo was about to break the game open with their 17-0 lead even before the first quarter ended. Except for the touchdown by Evans, Whitner was perfectly positioned to intercept the pass from Leftwich that sailed over Williams’ head.
Late first half Tampa Bay regained some momentum when Jackson fumbled the football inside Tampa Bay’s 14 yard line, and Sabby Piscitelli, safety, returned the ball 72 yards. Leftwich connected with Williams one play later for a touchdown of 8 yards to cut the Bills lead down to 20-14.
However, Whitner helped the Bills shut the door early third quarter with his burst into Tampa Bay’s backfield and tackle of Derrick Ward on fourth down and one for a loss of one yard.
For Whitner it was a complete emotion turnaround, after the loss last week which left him in tears.
Edwards said, last week we learned a lesson. It was a valuable lesson that we will need for the entire season. We need to finish games. We did that today.
