The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a rough go of things for the first eight games this season, as they entered Sunday’s contest against the New York Jets with a 2-6 record. The coaching staff, the players and anyone else involved in the organization was certainly ready to stop the five-game losing streak they were currently on, and that’s just what they did by defending their home turf and getting their third win of the year by a score of 15-10.

As most probably predicted with a matchup between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh McCown, this game started slow. The game started with three consecutive punts, two by New York and one by Tampa Bay. However, following the Jets’ second punt, the Buccaneers began to settle down on offense and orchestrated a 17-play, 77-yard drive that ended with an easy Pat Murray field goal. That put the Bucs on the board first with a score of 3-0.

The next three drives by the Jets went: punt, interception, punt, and that was due to some new life on the Buccaneers defense. The Bucs defense looked relaxed to start this game, which was a good thing after watching them looked stressed in the preview weeks. As the game went on, their relaxation and comfort turned into controlled aggression and some big stands that limited a shut out for a good portion of the first half.

With a little over seven minutes to go in the second quarter, the Jets began a drive at their own 20 yard line that would be the best they would go on all game. After 51 yards on 16 plays, the Jets were able to tie up the score 3-3 going into the half.

The Buccaneers opened up the second half with back-to-back catches for rookie Chris Godwin, who was playing Mike Evans’ role on Sunday, as Evans was suspended for last week’s altercation in New Orleans. After Godwin got his, DeSean Jackson caught a 19-yard pass that got the team into field goal range, in which Murray regained the lead for the Buccaneers 6-3.

Following that field goal, there was quite a bit of time that went by without much good offense for either team. Two punts by the Jets and two punts by the Buccaneers put the ball back in the hands of the Jets with the clock running down in the third quarter. As the Jets were moving the ball down the field, linebacker Kwon Alexander forced a fumble on Jets running back Bilal Powell to give the ball back to Tampa Bay in good field position. The Bucs were able to capitalize in the form of their third field goal, and the lead was extended to a score of 9-3.

The Jets’ responding drive went backwards right away, as defensive end Darryl Tapp got his first sack as a Buccaneer. That eventually helped force a three-and-out, which continued the trend of a bad offensive day for the Jets.

With the lead and the ball, the Buccaneer finally took control of things by completing a 15-play, 81-yard drive with a touchdown. The touchdown was a swing pass from Fitzpatrick to running back Charles Sims. That was the first touchdown at home for the Buccaneers since their October 6th game against the Patriots.

After a failed 2-point conversion attempt, the score became 15-3 in favor of the Bucs, and it was within their favor that the game would end. The Jets went on to score a touchdown via wide receiver Robby Anderson in the back of the end zone with less than a minute to go, but they ultimately fell short 15-10.

Bucs quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick finished the game 17-for-34 with 187 yards, a touchdown and an interception. DeSean Jackson was his main target with 82 yards on six catches, and Chris Godwin was next with 68 yards on five catches – both tied the team-lead in targets with 10. Doug Martin led the Bucs in rushing yards and carries with 51 yards on 20 attempts. Charles Sims had 20 yards on the ground on three carries, but added 10 receiving yards on three catches, one of which was a touchdown.

The real highlights, however, were on the defensive side. The Bucs, who have struggled to get to the quarterback, had six sacks on the day. Darryl Tapp, Kendell Beckwith and Will Clarke all got their first sacks of the season and first sacks as members of the Buccaneers. Gerald McCoy, Clinton McDonald and Robert Ayers got the two other sacks. Linebacker Lavonte David continued his stellar year with eight tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. He’s having an All Pro year. Cornerback Brent Grimes got the one interception for the defense on Sunday, and also added three tackles.