It took a while, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their first win after the bye week.
The team bested the Tennessee Titans 20-6 on Sunday, winning its first game in four weeks and moving to 4-5 on the year. Miraculously, the Bucs are still just a half a game back from the NFC South and remain in contention for the division after the rough slide.
Offense and defense played decently well on Sunday, making for a well-rounded performance that took home the win. As with every game, some players dazzled and some fell flat — check out our studs and duds from the matchup below:
USA TODAY Network
Mike Evans had two drops on Sunday, but if you focus on those instead of the six catches for 143 yards and a touchdown, I don’t know what to tell you.
Evans continues to prove that the Bucs need to get the ball to their most reliable playmaker more often, and his backpack carry of a Titans defender into the end zone from six yards out will be one of the best plays of the day. Evans is on pace for a strong year statistically and, despite his drops, isn’t really showing his age.
USA TODAY Network
Zyon McCollum was frequently beaten on Sunday, and had a particularly notable play in which him and corner Dee Delaney were put on skates by Titans running back Tyjae Spears (see above). On top of that, he had a bit of a gaff on special teams when he got started late on a punt return and stayed out of bounds before coming back in, drawing a penalty. Despite the win, it was a day to forget for him.
Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
He’s still got it.
Lavonte David had two tackles for loss and a pass breakup on Sunday, swarming the backfield and being a big reason why Titans running back Derrick Henry wasn’t able to get going on the day. David may be aging, but he remains one of the most instinctual players on the team and a forced to be reckoned with in the second level.
Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
It was another rough outing for Chase Edmonds. Edmonds only got nine yards on four carries, with all of those nine yards coming on his longest carry. He wasn’t very effective in the pass game either, catching one ball for -2 yards.
USA TODAY Network
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly one player that showed out here, so the pass rush in general gets the nod. The Bucs had four sacks on quarterback Will Levis, frequently disrupting him in the backfield. Undrafted free agent Markees Watts gets special commendations here, too, as his pressure directly resulted in Levis throwing a pick to Antoine Winfield Jr. at the end of the game.
(Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
Punter Jake Camarda suffered his worst game of the season on Sunday. He averaged just 34.2 yards per punt (in part due to a bad shank) and only downed the ball inside the 20 once on his five attempts. The Georgia product has been good this season, but he didn’t perform on Sunday.
