Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 12-27-16 Online Edition

Sports
Bucs' Playoff Chances Look Slim After Loss To Saints
Bucs Coach Dirk Koetter Explains Why Doug Martin Was Benched Saturday
DOUG MARTIN
Here we go again, aka Greg
Schiano. The Tampa Bay Buc- caneers needed a win in the worst way on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints after falling to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 15, but they failed to do so. Tampa Bay lost 31-24 to drop to 8-7 on the year, hurting their chances at a playoff berth.
Strangely enough, they opted to play the Saints without their No. 1 running back active. Doug Martin was a healthy scratch on Saturday, giving way to Jacquizz Rodgers as the starter. He shared time with Charles Sims and Peyton Barber, but it was Martin’s absence that was surprising.
Head coach Dirk Koetter who is learning on the fly with his bad play calling explained after the game why he opted to keep No. 22 inactive in ar- guably the biggest game of the year.
“It was a coach’s decision. We have four backs and we can’t give them all touches,” Koetter said.
The first-year head coach added that he believed Rodgers was a better matchup against the Saints, which played into the decision to bench Martin this week. Yeah Right, Coach. He just cost the Bucs their season with that de- cision. Rodgers rushed for 63 yards on 15 carries Saturday, adding a touchdown, as well.
Martin has struggled this season both on the field and with injuries. He has just 421 yards on 144 carries after rush- ing for 1,402 a year ago.
Koetter wouldn’t say if Martin’s recent outings – the last four of which saw him fail to reach 3.0 yards per carry – played a role in him being scratched.
“I’m not going to get into any of that,” Koetter said. “We’re blessed with good depth at run- ning back, and this was a deci- sion for today. It is what it is for today, and obviously we have to deal with what comes next.”
Martin repeatedly said it was a coach’s decision when asked about being benched.
“It was a big game and, like I said, it’s the coach’s decision to have the best guys out there that he thought would be the best for us,” Martin said.
The Buccaneers’ playoff hopes are slim after this loss, but they take on the Panthers at home on New Year’s Day to close out the season.
Dolphins Ride RB Jay Ajayi To Playoffs
The Tampa Bay Bucca- neers could not keep pace with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints' offense Saturday, falling 31-24. At 8- 7, their chances of making the postseason have taken a severe hit. After the Atlanta Falcons' 33-16 win over the Carolina Panthers, the NFC South title is no longer within reach. A shot at a wild card is also now very slim.
"I'm not going to worry too much about that right now because we just got beat by the Saints," head coach Dirk Koetter said. "I'm not going to be worried too much about that until after we get back to work on Monday. However that works out, it works out. We knew all week what our job was, to win today, and we didn't. Whatever happens after that, that's for the math professors to figure out."
The Bucs knew that Satur- day's game was must-win be- cause of playoff implications. They also knew they likely wouldn't see the same Saints offense that they held to 11 points two weeks ago. New Orleans exploded for 48 points last week against the Arizona Cardinals. That meant the Bucs' offense, which had quietly raised questions the past couple of weeks about its production despite a five-game win streak, would have to do more. The Bucs have now av- eraged 20 points of offense the past five weeks.
Quarterback Jameis Winston was pressured heavily up front, while the
DREW BREES AND JAMEIS WINSTON
Saints' secondary, at times, locked down his targets downfield. It didn't help that tight end Cameron Brate left the game with a back in- jury and did not return. It meant Winston had to tar- get Brandon Myers twice while trying to mount a fourth-quarter comeback that stalled at New Orleans' 17-yard line and ended in a field goal followed by an un- successful onside kick.
Winston completed 23 of 35 passes for 277 yards, two touchdowns and two inter- ceptions. Both interceptions were to safety Jairus Byrd, including one that set up a 14-yard touchdown run by Saints running back Mark Ingram. On the first pick, he was backed up into his own end zone after a botched punt return by Josh Huff.
"That was a crazy play on my part," Winston said. "No one was open. I tried to give my guy [wide receiver Mike Evans] a chance. [I should have] thrown it out of bounds, take the next play, flip the field. It was just very indecisive by me and very uncharacteristic. That should not have happened."
If Miami Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi has his choice, he’d probably prefer to play the Buffalo Bills every week of the season.
Exactly two months after rushing for 214 yards against Buffalo, Ajayi added another 206 rushing yards and a touchdown to his season total in Miami’s 34-31 overtime vic- tory over the Bills on Satur- day. Ajayi's 57-yard dash in the extra period set up Miami's game-winning field goal by Andrew Franks.
The game marked Ajayi’s third 200-yard rushing game
JAY AJAYI
of the season and first 100- plus-yard game since Nov. 6. Buffalo was the ideal oppo- nent to jump-start Ajayi in a huge spot.
Miami is now 10-5 and made it to the playoffs.
Titans Lose To Jaguars, Lose Marcus Mariota And Then Lose The Division
Jameis Winston, Sexual Assault Accuser Settle Federal Lawsuit
A season in which the Ten- nessee Titans have built some giant playoff hopes crashed Saturday at Ever- Bank Field.
The Titans got pummeled 38-17 by the Jaguars and lost Marcus Mariota, who suf- fered a broken fibula in his right leg in the third quarter.
The Texans' win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Satur- day night in Houston clinched the AFC South for Houston and ended the Ti- tans' bid for the division title no matter what they do next week against Houston in Nashville.
The Titans were ineffective from the start in Jacksonville. "It was in our hands; it's not in our hands anymore," coach Mike Mularkey said. "We have to rely on other teams to do things for us, and
that's not what we wanted.
"I give them credit. They beat us. That's the first time I can honestly say that we have
MARCUS MARIOTA
been beaten like that. Bad timing for it."
I don’t think they weren’t ready. I simply think a divi- sion opponent was charged up to beat the Titans and found ways to make things difficult for them. Tennessee couldn’t solve the Jaguars, who moved to just 3-12 on the season.
Tennessee (8-7) lost its ninth consecutive AFC South road game. The Jaguars im- proved to just 17-62 over the past five years, and the Titans now account for 29.4 percent of their wins in that span.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Win- ston has settled a federal lawsuit filed by a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2012 while he played at Florida State, according to the woman's at- torney.
Former Florida State stu- dent Erica Kinsman ac- cused Winston, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner, of sexually assaulting her at his apartment in December 2012. He was never charged with a crime by police in Tal- lahassee, Florida, and the state attorney's office there declined to pursue a crimi- nal case against him.
"The case has been re- solved to the satisfaction of the parties," John Clune, the woman's attorney, told reporters on Wednesday night.
Steelers Show Why They're Patriots' Biggest Threat In AFC
JAMEIS WINSTON Clune declined to discuss
the specifics of the settle- ment. Winston, in his sec- ond season with the Buccaneers, had filed a countersuit against Kins- man. Donald King, who is one of the attorneys repre- senting Winston, told The Associated Press that also has been settled.
Kinsman's lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Or- lando, Florida, on April 3.
BEN ROETHLISBERGER
Three reasons why you don’t want to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs:
Antonio Brown. Ben Roethlisberger. Le’Veon Bell.
The Baltimore Ravens' post- season hopes ended Sunday night at Heinz Field, where they contained Pittsburgh’s Big Three long enough to manage a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter ... but not long enough.
Brown’s 4-yard, catch-and- stretch touchdown with nine
seconds left – he quickly reached out to break the plane of the end zone while collared by Eric Weddle inches shy of the goal line – provided the fin- ishing touch to the 31-27 thriller that settled the latest chapter of one of the NFL’s best rivalries.
That’s what the money play- ers will do for you in crunch time: Prove why they are they are the money players.
Before Brown’s exploits, Bell, who finished with 122 rushing yards, slashed and weaved through the Ravens de- fense to inflate one drive after another. He scored the other two TDs in Pittsburgh’s 21- point fourth quarter, including a determined 7-yard reception off a Roethlisberger scram- ble that illustrated his knack for finding daylight in traffic.
PAGE 14 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016