TAMPA, FL – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Miami Dolphins in the first game of the 2022-23 season game for both teams. The Dolphins held on to defeat the Bucs 26-24 in a battle of back ups and reserves.
Jose Borregales had the game in his hands with a 49 yard attempt and 3 seconds left on the clock. Borregales punched in a 55 yd field goal for Tampa in the third quarter, and was ready to be the hero. Miami froze him on his first attempt with a time out on a kick that went through. Not the real attempt, Borregales hit the right upright, giving Miami the win.
But it doesn’t count, right?
The Bucs got a good night out of Kyle Trask, the second year quarterback out of Florida. After aa rough start late in second quarter, with a fumble and interception that was returned for a touchdown, Trask went on and had a decent night, going 25 for 33, 258 yards, and a touchdown.
Trask worked well with receivers Tyler Johnson and Jerreth Sterns.
Both the Bucs and Dolphins rested most of their starters, continuing a controversy caused by Tom Brady’s excused absence from camp and Aaron Rodgers complaints of it being pointless to come in for 4 snaps and sit the rest of the night.
Brady has been excused for to weeks of camp as part of a plan between he and the team. He felt as long as he spent some time in camp, working on knocking off rust and working on his chemistry, it would be okay to miss two mass see would not be playin in anyway.
Blaine Garrret is the next up in the Bucs QB lineup, and after he settled in, he was sharp.
Gabbert went 5 for 5 for 56 yards and a touchdown, which was a 23-yard post route to second-year WR Jaelon Darden for the score. in the first quarter.
With Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russel Gage, and Julio Jones sitting out the first game, it was a great opportunities for the Bucs reserve receivers to show what they got.
Tyler Johnson led the team with six catches for 73 yards while undrafted rookies Kaylon Geiger and Jerreth Sterns recorded four catches each for 52 and 51 yards.
“We’ve got a lot of tough descions at receiver.” Said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles. “Sterns and Geiger both showed up. Tyler showed up in the first half. We’ve got a lot of film to watch.”
“We got a lotta good, but we got some bad too. Understanding situational football, we’ve go a lot to clean up. But I understand that it’s the first time under the NFL lights for a lot of the guys.”
The Buccaneers gave a up a some big plays on busted coverage, giving the Dolphins good opportunities deep in Tampa territory, but the Bucs defense flexed and prevented the Dolphins from scoring touchdowns on many of their drives.
Quarterback Skyler Thompson played the whole game for Miami. Thomson went 20 for 28 with 218 yards and one touchdown. He threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to WR Lynn Bowden late in the second quarter and had a key 21-yard scramble on the fourth-quarter drive that set up what proved to be Jason Sanders’ game-winning 53-yard field goal.
Thompson was under pressure for most of the game by the Bucs defense, and was sacked by Cam Gill, Anthony Nelson, and Patrick O’Conner.
The Bucs return to practice tis week and then head out to Nashville to face the Tennessee Titans next Saturday night at 7pm.
