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Bucs recover from big hole, beat KC in OT
2008-11-03
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tampa Bay had four turnovers and a raft of injured starters. No matter, they were in Kansas City -- and caught an incredibly lucky break. Jeff Garcia's 24-yard touchdown pass and 2-point conversion toss tied it with 19 seconds left and Matt Bryant's 33-yard field goal in overtime gave the Buccaneers a 30-27 win over the Chiefs on Sunday after trailing by 21 points. The Chiefs (1-7) never touched the ball in overtime as Garcia hit Michael Clayton for 29 yards on the first play and smartly moved Tampa Bay (6-3) down the field. Adding to the dismay of the Chiefs was the fact that Bryant was wide right on a 38-yard try on third down in the overtime drive. But a false start penalty on Jeremy Trueblood negated the play. So with a third down, the Bucs tried another play, and Garcia connected with Jameel Cook for nine yards, setting up a game-winning field goal that must have landed on the Chiefs like a punch to the midsection. Garcia hit 31 of 43 passes for 339 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. The Chiefs' Tyler Thigpen, making his third career start, was 14-for-25 for 164 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Mark Bradley, but the Chiefs lost for the 16th time in 17 games. The Bucs appeared to have blown their comeback bid when Earnest Graham fumbled at the goal line and Kansas City's Jarrad Page recovered in the end zone with 3:24 to go. But the Chiefs wound up punting and Garcia took over on the 50 and quickly moved down field. The injury-weakened Bucs fell behind 24-3 in the second quarter. But scored 10 quick points at the end of the first half on Clifton Smith's 97-yard kickoff return and Bryant's 43-yard field goal. In the second half, one play after Turk McBride recovered Smith's fumble for Kansas City, Tanard Jackson forced Jamaal Charles to drop the ball and then recovered it himself on the Chiefs' 3. Graham took the handoff and Smith was all by himself in the end zone as the running back pulled up and tossed him a 3-yard TD, making it 24-19. Less than 2 minutes later, the Bucs appeared to have scored when Phillip Buchanon intercepted Thigpen's pass and returned it to the end zone. But an illegal contact penalty on safety Sabby Piscitelli negated the play and Connor Barth's 28-yard field goal gave K.C. a 27-19 lead. The Chiefs were leading 14-3 when Thigpen, on first down from the 37, lined up wide right, across from 12-year veteran cornerback Ronde Barber. The ball was snapped directly to running back Jamaal Charles, and Barber ignored Thigpen as Charles turned around and pitched the ball to Bradley on what looked like an end around. Bradley, after nearly fumbling the high pitch, pulled up and heaved the ball toward Thigpen, who was alone in the end zone. Thigpen hit Dwayne Bowe with a 7-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead on the first possession. Graham then fumbled to McBride on the Bucs' first play and Kolby Smith scored on a 1-yard run. Bryant's great one-handed catch for 21 yards set up Bryant's 25-yard field goal for the Bucs and then Bryant closed out the second quarter with a 43-yarder, trimming the lead to 24-13. Counting running back Warrick Dunn, their second-leading rusher, the Bucs were missing four injured starters, including safety Jermaine Phillips, left guard Arron Sears and fullback B.J. Askew. The Chiefs were missing running back Larry Johnson, who sat out a third straight game for disciplinary reasons, and were further weakened when Smith went out in the second quarter with a knee sprain.
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