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Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Los Angeles Rams: Aguayo's miss, Winston fumble the turning point in loss

 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Roberto Aguayo (19) misses a field goal in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Sunday evening (09/25/16).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Roberto Aguayo (19) misses a field goal in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Sunday evening (09/25/16).
Published Sept. 26, 2016

TAMPA — Heading into halftime, Jameis Winston and the Bucs were poised to rebound from last week's blowout loss to the Cardinals.

Midway through the third quarter, they fell apart.

As Tampa Bay sought to pad a 20-17 lead, Roberto Aguayo's 41-yard field goal veered wide left, giving Los Angeles the ball at its 31-yard line.

Suddenly, the Rams, who had gone three-and-out in their first two possessions of the second half, cruised to the go-ahead touchdown.

The Bucs nearly answered, but on third and 6 from the Los Angeles 13, defensive end Robert Quinn beat tackle Donovan Smith around the left edge to knock the ball out of Winston's hand. The Raymond James Stadium crowd watched in silence as Ethan Westbrooks returned the fumble 77 yards to give the Rams a 31-20 lead.

The missed field goal and lost fumble proved too much to overcome. We break down those plays and more in this morning's Turning Point. Look for it before lunch at tampabay.com.

Contact Thomas Bassinger at tbassinger@tampabay.com. Follow @tometrics.