The Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened up Raymond James Stadium for the first time in 2019 on Friday night, as the fellow Floridian Miami Dolphins came to town. But no Bucs, Dolphins game would be complete without some rain interference.

With rain storms running on and off through the day, the field and the ball weren’t in crisp conditions at halftime. Because of this, the offensive starters saw limited action. In his one drive with the first team, quarterback Jameis Winston led the Bucs down the field and into Dolphins territory, but a late-drive sack forced a punt. Winston’s night ended 2-for-4 with 24 yards.

Dolphins quarterback Josh Rosen started the game for Miami, but he could get anything going against the Bucs first team defense on their initial drive.

Blaine Gabbert took over as the Bucs signal caller after the first drive, and the rest of the second team offense was out there with him. Unfortunately Gabbert was about as ineffective as Rosen was on his first drive, and after gaining just one yard, Bucs running back Andre Ellington fumbled the ball and Dolphins took over. Miami gained 32 yards and got the ball close to the goal line, but after going for it on fourth down they came up short with no points.

The Bucs were forced to punt on their next drive, thanks to a few dropped passes, and the Dolphins took over for the first real sustained drive of the night between either team. After eight plays and 35 yards, Miami got into field goal range and ended the scoreless stalemate going up 3-0.

After back-to-back punts for both teams, the Bucs responded with an 11-play, 36-yard drive of their own that ended in three points off the foot of rookie kicker Matt Gay, who knocked in a 32-yard field goal to bring the score to even once again at 3-3.

The score would remain a tie until right before the half when Miami got within striking distance again to take the lead 6-3.

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick started the second half for the Dolphins, but couldn’t do much on his first drive. Quarterback Ryan Griffin took over on the Buccaneers side of things but his results were about the same.

Buccaneers running back Dare Ogunbowale was one of the lone shining stars for either team in the second half. Ogunbowale was by far the Bucs most effective running back in the run game and the pass game. Early in the fourth quarter, a 41-yard gain by Ogunbowale got the Bucs into the red zone and knocking on the door for points. They weren’t able to punch it in for six points, but Cairo Santos was able to connect on a short field goal to tie it up at 6-6.

Mid-way through the fourth quarter, the Dolphins were marching down the field. Eventually they found themselves in the red zone with points in sight. But just as it looked like they’d re-take the lead, Bucs rookie cornerback Jamel Dean grabbed his first interception of his NFL career to give it back to Tampa Bay.

On the next drive, the Bucs offense finally got to work. Thanks to a little help from a pass interference call against the Dolphins defense, the Bucs got within scoring distance and tight end Tanner Hudson ended the tie with a touchdown grab. Bucs took their first lead of the game 13-6.

With one drive left, the Dolphins knew they had to score. And that they did, as a long drive ended in six points. But instead of tying the game up with 34 seconds left in the game, Miami went for two and connected to take the 14-13 lead.

Ryan Griffin took over for one last drive, knowing they had just 34 seconds and three timeouts to get within range of a Matt Gay field goal. The drive started off with a big catch by Hudson over the middle to get to mid-field. Then another big throw to Hudson at the sideline really gave them a kicker’s chance.

And that chance was all they needed, as Gay ripped the game winning 48-yard field goal right through the uprights.