Ravens at Buccaneers TNF Week 8 Recap

 The Ravens came into this game with a record of 4-3 compared to the Bucs that had a record of 3-4.  The Bucs were favored by 2 points while the Ravens were getting 2 points.  Both teams came into this matchup with significant injuries, the Bucs secondary was extremely banged up and they were missing a majority of their starting cornerbacks.  The Ravens came into the game with there d-line weakened as Calais Campbell was out for the game. 

(Dane Arakulus, AS USA)

No one was quite sure how this game would turn out as indicated by the low spread because the Ravens have blown 4th quarter leads recently and despite having 3 losses they have only trailed for a minute and 27 seconds the whole season.  The Bucs have also had their problems this season, a flurry of injuries on the offensive line have caused the Bucs to be ranked dead last in rushing yards per game in the NFL.  This combined with poor receiver play and a distracted Tom Brady has the teams offense playing extremely poorly. 

(Blaine Smith, USA Today Sports)

The Ravens got off to a lucky start in the first quarter after the Bucs muffed the punt on their first possession of the game.  This set up the Ravens in prime position as they were in the red zone.  However the Bucs defense held Lamar Jackson in check and the Ravens kicked a field goal.  The Bucs were able to respond to this a couple drives later by compiling a 75 yard drive that ended off with a 1 yard touchdown run by Leonard Fournette. 

The Bucs were able to finish off the first quarter strong by keeping Lamar in check and kicking a field goal in the closing seconds of the first quarter putting them up 10-3.  The second quarter saw a defensive stand made by both teams as no points were scored in the quarter.  The Ravens were able to get back on track in the third quarter.  They scored two touchdowns and kept the Bucs in check allowing zero points for the third quarter.

This proved to be extremely costly for the Bucs as their offense kept going 3 and out which meant that their defense had to deal with the Ravens and their long drives that consist of mainly running the ball which really tires out the Bucs defense.  The fourth quarter saw the Ravens running away with the game as the Bucs defense got too run down since they were constantly on the field during the second half.  In the fourth the Ravens scored a touchdown and a field goal while the Bucs scored 2 field goals and a touchdown.  This led to the Ravens winning the game 27 to 22 as they dominated the time of possession in the second half and were able to successfully wear down the Bucs defense. 

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