The Cleveland Brown finished good this November by defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-17 in overtime.
The Browns had earlier lost to Miami and Buffalo the last two weekends and had entered the game at 3-7 and tied with Pittsburgh for last in the AFC North.
The Buccaneers had come in with a record of 5-5, a half-game ahead of the Falcons (5-6). The team also had two prior straight wins, defeating the Rams in the last two Super Bowl champions before winning the Seahawks two weeks ago.
How the Browns Defeated The Buccaneers in Overtime
Tampa bay’s cornerback Carlton Davis III fell while trying to cover Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper on third-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 48-yard line. He had slipped probably as a result of the rainfall during the game.
Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett then assisted Amari for a 45-yard pass to the Tampa Bay 3.
Later on, running back Nick Chubb rushed for the game-winning, 3-yard touchdown with only 19 seconds left in overtime.
The end saw Cleveland Browns rise to 4-7, and the Bucs fall to 5-6.
And that was it. A three-yard touchdown run by Nick Chubb with 19 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Cleveland team a 23-16 win at the end of 70 minutes of the game. WR Amari Cooper’s 45-yard catch-and-run, after CB Carlton Davis slip and fall, set Chubb put it in and avoid what would have been the second tie in Tampa Bay’s franchise history.
Tight End David Njoku’s amazing one-handed touchdown catch with 32 seconds to end in regulation sent the game to overtime after the Buccaneers had taken a 17-10 lead on Ko Kieft’s touchdown catch in the third quarter.
Tampa Bay’s coach, Todd Bowles, admitted that the game was tough. Reacting at the end of the game, he said; “We had so much in all three phases that lost this ballgame, whether it was the return game, their returns on us on punt or a kickoff; defensively, key stops at certain times, penalties to move the ball, letting the run out at certain times, the tackling wasn’t great. Offensively, not being able to get third downs was crucial for us and we let them get to the quarterback too much in the second half.”
Speaking on David Njoku’s star performance, Todd referred to it as one heck of a play;
“The coverage was fine, we knew what we were running, he jumped up and made a one-handed catch. It was out of the reach of Devin, he couldn’t get there and he made a heck of play.”
On their defeat, Bowles admitted that his team didn’t play smart. “They played hard – we didn’t play smart, we didn’t play physical ball, we didn’t play sound football and we let things go,” He said.