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Bucs at Colts: 5 things you might have missed

 
At 40 years old and born a year before the Bucs played their first season, the Colts’ Matt Hasselbeck is the oldest quarterback to throw a touchdown against Tampa Bay and to post a QB rating of better than 100 (100.8).
At 40 years old and born a year before the Bucs played their first season, the Colts’ Matt Hasselbeck is the oldest quarterback to throw a touchdown against Tampa Bay and to post a QB rating of better than 100 (100.8).
Published Nov. 30, 2015

The Bucs saw a two-game win streak end in a 25-12 loss at the Colts. Here are five things you might have missed:

1 Matt Hasselbeck became the oldest player to throw a TD against the Bucs. Hasselbeck, 40 and born the year before the Bucs' first season, is about three weeks older than ex-Buc Brad Johnson was when he threw a touchdown for the Cowboys against the Bucs in 2008. With two TDs and no interceptions, he also managed a QB rating of 100.8 and is the oldest ever to post a 100-plus rating against the Bucs, breaking a record that Craig Morton set as a 38-year-old in 1981.

Oldest quarterback ever to beat the Bucs? That record still belongs to another ex-Buc, Vinny Testaverde, who was a month shy of 42 when he led the Jets to a win over Tampa Bay in 2005.

2 The Bucs finished without a takeaway for the first time in 17 games. That ended the longest active streak in the NFL, and the longest for the Bucs since 2003. Sterling Moore stripped a fumble that the Bucs recovered, but that was negated by a holding penalty on Alterraun Verner.

Coach Lovie Smith needs takeaways as part of a winning formula. He's now 0-4 with the Bucs when his team doesn't get a takeaway, and 4-15 as an NFL head coach.

3 Meet Cameron Brate, tied for the Bucs' team lead in touchdown catches. The unheralded tight end from Harvard, cut from the Bucs' practice squad in September, caught a 20-yard pass from Jameis Winston for his third touchdown in the past five games. That ties him with WR Vincent Jackson and RB Charles Sims for the team lead. Brate set career highs with five catches and 53 yards.

"We can't let this loss hold us back," he said. "We've been playing pretty good the past couple of weeks. We have to look at ourselves, see what we did wrong and come back better next week."

4 Chris Conte swears he didn't touch the snapper on his field-goal block. In the fourth quarter, the Bucs safety hurdled over the Colts' long snapper in trying to block a field goal. He would miss the block and run into the holder but was told he was flagged because he made contact with the snapper, something he denies.

"I told the guy there is no way in hell I touched the center," Conte said. "He told me afterward my foot grazed the center. … You're not allowed to touch the guy when you jump over him. They were like, 'We're going to go back and look at that one heavily.' I don't know how you call that there."

5 Connor Barth missed his first career extra point. He had connected on his first 164 attempts — including all 15 of the longer variety this season — before missing wide left Sunday in the second quarter.

"I just wasn't on my game," said Barth, who also missed a 54-yard field-goal attempt. "It happens. You just have to go back to work. You have to throw it behind you. I know I'm a good kicker in this league. … I didn't do my part."

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Consolation? Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, one of the game's all-time greats, also missed a PAT, his second miss this season.