The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday, by a score of 29-26. The Bucs kicker Chandler Catanzaro hit a 59-yard game winning field goal in overtime, after earlier missing an extra point and field goal to win in regulation.

The Bucs were coming off a 3 game losing streak after starting 2-0, last losing to the Atlanta Falcons. The Browns were coming off a big loss to the Chargers. The Browns have now played in 4 overtime games this year, going 1-2-1.

The first half began with the Browns forcing a safety when they tackled Running Back Peyton Barber in the end-zone, followed by a field goal by Kicker Chandler Catanzaro. The Bucs then scored one of their three rushing touchdowns when Wide Receiver Desean Jackson went around on a jet sweep and ran in for a 14-yard touchdown. After 4 punts in a row by Cleveland, Quarterback Jameis Winston made an impressive effort to escape a collapsing pocket and dive into the end-zone for another rushing touchdown, putting the Bucs up 16-2. Although the Bucs were able to get the ball back at the end of the first half, an interception and fumble by Winston gave the Browns great field position. The Bucs showed resilience as linebacker Lavonte Davis forced Browns Quarterback Baker Mayfield to fumble the ball, ending the first half.

As Tampa won the toss and received the ball in the second half, the Browns forced a strip-sack fumble right off the bat and followed this by an impressive 15-yard throw from Mayfield to Tight End David Njoku to put the game at 16-9. Later in the 3rd quarter, the Bucs got into the red-zone and Running back Ronald Jones II ran for 2 yard touchdown. This was the first time a Bucs’ running back scored a touchdown this season, putting the score at 23-9. The Browns also ran impressively down the field with running back Nick Chubb scoring a touchdown to close the gap to 23-16. The Bucs defense stepped up later in the 4th quarter to stop Chubb and Mayfield at the goal line to give the ball to the Bucs. After a quick three-and-out by the Bucs, Mayfield threw a darting pass to a diving wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who reached out to the goal-line for the touchdown, tying up the score at 23-23. A field goal missed by Catanzaro sent the game into overtime.

After a back and forth overtime which consisted of an interception by the Browns and a forced fumble on a punt return for the Bucs, Catanzaro redeemed himself, and possibly his career, by hitting a 59-yard field goal to win the game 29-26. This was the longest made field goal in overtime in NFL history.

“The team had been putting me in a great position all day long,” Catanzaro said. “I was so upset, because I just wanted to end it right there. The guys deserved to win right there. That’s a 40-yarder, I should make that every time. But it’s weird how kicking works sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t go between the two poles. I just wanted to bounce back and make the next one, so I’m glad I did.”

The Bucs faced a huge blow as Line-backer Kwon Alexander was injured on the final play of the 1st half, reports coming on Monday said that the star player had torn his ACL and is out for the season.

“Kwon was playing so well and he’s the heart and soul of our defense,” Head Coach Dirk Koetter said. “Just very unfortunate and our locker room at halftime was extremely emotional last night…”

The Bucs’ defense showed great improvement under new defensive coordinator Mark Duffner, putting pressure on Mayfield throughout the game.

The Bucs’, who are now 3-3, look to make a playoff push as they play the 4-3 Bengals this Sunday.