If Winston can help his team to the win today it would be his first three game win streak. If the Bucs can win again this week, they would have their highest victory total on the road in one season since 2012.
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Everything continues to work out perfectly for Matt Hasselbeck and the Indianapolis Colts. The Buccaneers have forced 20 turnovers to tie for fourth in the National Football League, causing at least one in 17 straight weeks for the longest active streak.
The 40-year-old quarterback has won all three of his starts this season, kept the Colts in contention for a third straight AFC South title, and still enjoys life in the NFL. But the Colts are opting for stability in the interior of their line over other options, such as moving guard Jack Mewhort to right tackle – a position he struggled at to start the season.
“I don’t know how many more opportunities any of us are going to have”, said embattled head coach Chuck Pagano. I’m a half-full guy.
We could also talk about generating pressure on Winston, but that sounds like a broken record and not something we can expect to get better anytime soon.
Hasselbeck’s passer rating of 94.4 would be the second-best of his career, behind only the 98.2 he posted with Seattle in 2005. The Buccaneers are set to receive to start the second half. Tampa Bay appeared to have held Indianapolis to a field goal but the Bucs were called for jumping over the center in an attempt to block the kick, giving the Colts an automatic first down at the 6-yard line.
Despite the improvements that the Buccaneers have made this season, Indianapolis is the better team and will get this win.
The Colts also produced four of their five sacks in the second half, two from Erik Walden, who also had two quarterback hits and two tackles for loss. In the past three games, Hilton has been limited to eight catches and 118 yards while being targeted just 17 times. Bucs RB Doug Martin carried 12 times for 90 yards (7.5 yards per carry) during the opening 30 minutes… With 5:31 remaining in the second quarter, Indianapolis had run 26 plays for 128 yards, and Tampa Bay had run 27 plays for 128 yards… Regardless of how he played the rest of the game, those mistakes will need to be cleaned up.
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For the first time since the the Philadelphia game in Week 2, the Dallas defense was able to create multiple turnovers. It’s hard to believe that he actually entered the season as a starter, as he has been inactive in a number of games recently and hasn’t played much of a role at all since week two.
