Bullock's field goal lifts Bengals over Buccaneers
Randy Bullock kicked a 44-yard field goal Sunday as time expired, lifting the Cincinnati Bengals to a 37-34 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
Cincinnati drove 50 yards in 60 seconds to tee up Bullock's fourth career game-winner. Andy Dalton connected on passes of 23 and 11 yards to A.J. Green to push the ball to the 30, and a defensive delay of game foul moved it to the 25. After Dalton took a yard loss to set the ball up on the left hash, Bullock converted the kick.
Joe Mixon gained 123 yards on 21 carries, scoring on runs of 1 and 8 yards as Cincinnati (5-3) grabbed a 21-0 second quarter lead in breaking a two-game losing streak. Dalton completed 21 of 34 passes for 280 yards, finding Tyler Boyd and Green for touchdown strikes of 9 and 17 yards, respectively.
The sailing wasn't nearly as smooth for Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston, who was benched for backup Ryan Fitzpatrick after Jessie Bates returned Winston's fourth interception 21 yards with 2:10 left in the third quarter for a score and a 34-16 Bengals advantage.
Winston finished 18 of 35 for 276 yards, connecting with DeSean Jackson on a 60-yard touchdown pass with 4:36 remaining in the first half. It was the third four-interception game of Winston's three-plus season NFL career.
Fitzpatrick helped rally Tampa Bay (3-4), hitting Mike Evans for a 72-yard scoring strike with 9:57 left in the game to bring it within a score. Tight end O.J. Howard caught an 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:05 remaining to draw Tampa Bay within two points, and Fitzpatrick sidearmed the tying two-point pass to Chris Godwin.
Fitzpatrick finished with 194 yards on 11-of-15 passing in just over a quarter. Evans caught six passes for 179 yards, but it wasn't enough to give the Buccaneers the win, even though they outgained Cincinnati by a 576-402 margin and possessed the ball for 35 minutes, 59 seconds.
--Field Level Media