A late attempt at trickeration by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers failed in spectacular fashion Sunday afternoon.
Trailing the 49ers by just nine points after a Phil Dawson field goal late in the fourth quarter, the suddenly surging Bucs went for the home run on the ensuing kickoff. After fielding the kick deep in his own end zone, return man Eric Page ran the ball out to near his own 5-yard line and handed off to Russell Shepard on a reverse. Shepard could not keep his footing, however, and the ball popped out as he tumbled to the ground.
The loose ball rolled right into the outstretched arms of San Francisco’s Kendall Hunter, who scooped it up and dove over the goal line for the game-sealing touchdown.
The Niners added another Dawson field goal to bring the final score to 33-14, snapping Tampa Bay’s month-long streak of actually playing not-so-terrible football.
Check out the play in GIF form below, courtesy of @corkgaines.
