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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Peyton Barber Seizes Opportunity

Stat Shots: RB Peyton Barber made the most of his first start of 2017, ending the Bucs' long drought of 100-yard rushing games…Also, Cam Brate, Mike Evans and Jameis Winston move up lists

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Peyton Barberbroke a 14-month drought for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he ran for 102 yards on 23 carries Sunday in Green Bay. That was the first individual 100-yard rushing game by a Buccaneer since Jacquizz Rodgers went for 154 at San Francisco on October 23 of last year. Barber also caught four passes for a team-high 41 yards, makinghim the first player to lead the Bucs in both rushing and receiving yards** in one game since Bobby Rainey did so at Atlanta on Sept. 18, 2014 (41 rushing, 64 receiving).

Barber is the first Buccaneer in five years to record a 100-yard rushing game and lead the team in receiving yards. The last time that happened was on October 25, 2012, when Doug Martin ran for 135 yards at Minnesota and also racked up a team-leading 79 receiving yards.

Barber first joined the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent out of Auburn in 2016. Before him, the last running back who started his NFL career as an undrafted signee in Tampa to record a 100-yard game was Earnest Graham. Graham arrived as a rookie free agent out of Florida in 2003 and had the first of his five 100-yard games for the Bucs in 2007. There have, in fact, only been three running backs in team history who signed with the Buccaneers first as undrafted players and went on to have a 100-yard rushing game: Barber, Graham and Nathan Wonsley, who had two in 1986.

A behind-the-scenes look at the Buccaneers' Week 13 matchup with the Packers.

In Tampa Bay's previous game at Atlanta, Barber had only seven rushing yards but he scored two touchdowns. In Green Bay, he accounted for about 36% of the team's overall yardage but didn't score, as both of the Buccaneers' end zone incursions at Lambeau Field were made by tight end Cameron Brate. Brate started the scoring with a dazzling one-handed catch of a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jameis Winston on the game's opening drive, then briefly gave the Bucs a fourth-quarter lead with an 11-yard score.

That marked Brate's second two-touchdown game as a pro; he also scored twice against the Los Angeles Rams on September 25, 2016. He has now scored six times this season to lead the Buccaneers and he is just two behind the single-season franchise record in that category for tight ends. Brate already owns a share of that record, having grabbed eight touchdown passes in 2016 to tie the mark originally set by Jimmie Giles in 1985. Brate and Giles are the only two tight ends in team history with even one season with six-plus TD catches, let alone two.

Most Touchdown Receptions, Single Season, Tight Ends, Buccaneers History

**Player** **Season** **TD Recs.**
Cameron Brate 2016 8
Jimmie Giles 1985 8
Jimmie Giles 1979 7
Cameron Brate 2017 6
Jimmie Giles 1981 6

Brate has 14 touchdown catches since the start of the 2016 season, which is the second most in the NFL by a tight end in that span, trailing Seattle's Jimmy Graham by just one.

Most Touchdown Receptions, Tight End, NFL, 2016-17

**Player** **Team** **TD Recs.**
Jimmy Graham Seattle 15
Cameron Brate Tampa Bay 14
Kyle Rudolph Minnesota 13
Hunter Henry San Diego 11
Zach Ertz Philadelphia 11
Travis Kelce Kansas City 11

Regardless of position, Brate has been one of the league's most prolific scorers in the passing game over the past two seasons. He is tied for seventh in touchdown catches in that span among all players. The Buccaneers and Packers are the only teams to have two players rank in the top 10 on that list, as wide receiver Mike Evans has 16 touchdowns since the start of 2016.

Most Touchdown Receptions, NFL, 2016-17

**Player** **Team** **Pos.** **TD Recs.**
1t. Antonio Brown PIT WR 20
1t. Jordy Nelson GB WR 20
3. Davante Adams GB WR 19
4. Mike Evans TB WR 16
5t. Jimmy Graham SEA TE 15
4t. Kenny Stills MIA WR 15
7t. Cameron Brate TB TE 14
7t. Michael Crabtree OAK WR 14
9t. Odell Beckham NYG WR 13
9t. Dez Bryant DAL WR 13
9t. Brandin Cooks NO/NE WR 13
9t. DeAndre Hopkins HOU WR 13
9t. Kyle Rudolph MIN TE 13

Brate and Evans also both rank in the top 10 in Buccaneers franchise history in touchdown receptions, with Brate just moving into a tie for 10th place with his two scores on Sunday.

Most Touchdown Receptions, Buccaneers History

**Player** **Seasons** **Pos.** **TD Recs.**
1. Jimmie Giles 1978-86 TE 34
2t. Mike Evans 2014-17 WR 31
2t. Kevin House 1980-86 WR 31
4. Joey Galloway 2004-08 WR 28
5. Mark Carrier 1987-92 WR 27
6. Mike Williams 2010-13 WR 25
7. Dave Moore 1992-2001; 04-06 TE 24
8. Bruce Hill 1987-91 WR 23
9. Vincent Jackson 2012-16 WR 20
10t. Cameron Brate 2014-17 TE 17
10t. Gerald Carter 1981-87 WR 17
10t. Keyshawn Johnson 2000-03 WR 17

Brate's fellow Buccaneer tight end, rookie O.J. Howard, also has four touchdowns to tie for second on the team. This is the first time in franchise history that two different tight ends have had at least four touchdown catches in the same season. Adding in the one touchdown caught by the since-released Luke Stocker, the Buccaneers have 11 touchdowns from the tight end position this year. Only the Seahawks have gotten more scores from their tight end group in 2017, and the Buccaneers are the only team with two tight ends with at least four touchdown catches each.

Most Combined Touchdown Receptions, Tight End Position, NFL Teams, 2017

**Team** **TD Recs.** **Tight Ends**
SEA 13 J. Graham (9), L. Willson (3), N. Vannett (1)
TB 11 C. Brate (6), O. Howard (4), L. Stocker (1)
PHI 9 Z. Ertz (7), T. Burton (2)
KC 8 T. Kelce (7), D. Harris (1)
NE 8 R. Gronkowski (7), D. Allen (1)

Rookie tight end Antony Auclair recorded his first career reception on Sunday in Green Bay, an 11-yard grab on the game's opening drive. Tight end Alan Cross also grabbed a 13-yard pass on that possession. In fact, all four of the team's tight ends got involved in the passing attack on Sunday, as Howard snared a 17-yard pass and Brate had his two touchdown receptions. That foursome has four more games to try to break the team's single-season record for combined touchdowns from the tight end position.

Most Combined Touchdown Receptions, Single Season, Tight Ends Position, Buccaneers History

**Season** **TD Recs.** **Tight Ends**
1985 13 J. Giles (8), C. Magee (3), J. Bell (2)
2017 11 C. Brate (6), O. Howard (4), L. Stocker (1)
2016 11 C. Brate (8), A. Cross (1), B. Myers (1), A. Seferian-Jenkins (1)
2007 9 J. Stevens (4), A. Smith (3), A. Becht (2)
2015 8 A. Seferian-Jenkins (4), C. Brate (3), L. Stocker (1)
1979 8 J. Giles (7), J. Obradovich (1)

Mike Evans wasn't among the team's leading pass-catchers on Sunday, as the Buccaneers had much more success in the screen game than throwing downfield. Still, the 33 yards that Evans contributed on two receptions allowed him to move up another spot on the team's all-time receiving yardage chart. Evans is now fourth in team history in receiving yardage, having just passed the aforementioned Jimmie Giles.

Most Career Receiving Yards, Buccaneers History

**Player** **Seasons** **Yards**
Mark Carrier 1987-92 5,018
Kevin House 1980-86 4,928
Vincent Jackson 2012-16 4,326
Mike Evans 2014-17 4,313
Jimmie Giles 1978-86 4,300

With his team-leading 735 yards this season, Evans has already moved up three spots on the above list, passing not only Giles but also Joey Galloway and Keyshawn Johnson. He's likely to be in third place in a week, as he needs only 14 more yards to pass former teammate Vincent Jackson.

Jameis Winston was the man distributing the football to all the players noted above – the Bucs actually had 10 different players catch at least one pass on Sunday – and he too leapt up another spot on an all-time franchise list. Winston has 62 touchdowns in 41 career games so far, moving him past Steve DeBerg and into sixth place. He needs just three more to pass Brad Johnson for fifth place.

Most Career Touchdown Passes, Buccaneers History

**Player** **Seasons** **TD Passes**
Josh Freeman 2009-13 80
Vinny Testaverde 1987-92 77
Doug Williams 1977-82 73
Trent Dilfer 1994-99 70
Brad Johnson 2001-04 64
Jameis Winston 2014-17 62
Steve DeBerg 1984-87; 92-93 61
Craig Erickson 1992-94 34
Brian Griese 2004-05; 08 32
Mike Glennon 2013-16 29

Winston returned to the lineup after a three-week absence due to an injured throwing shoulder. He was sharp in his first game back, racking up 270 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception, on 21 of 32 passing. That led to a passer rating of 112.8, the 12th time in his 41 starts that he has finished with a rating of 100 or better. Winston's 270 gross passing yards was almost exactly equal to the team's per-game average in that category this season (274.4). Tampa Bay ranks fifth in the NFL in that category, as well as in net passing yards per game (261.6). Both of those averages are the best the Buccaneers have ever compiled through the first 12 games of a campaign. That obviously means they are on pace to break their team records for most gross and net passing yards in a season.  The chart below shows how the Bucs' projected totals in those categories, based on a 12-game pace, would compare to the top seasons in franchise history.

**Season** **Net** **Season** **Gross**
2017* 4,185 2017* 4,391
2012 3,983 2016 4,165
2016 3,926 2012 4,144
2015 3,852 2015 4,042
2003 3,805 2003 3,941

( Projected totals.)*

Winston's three weeks of rest, plus two other games in which he was knocked out by injury at or before halftime, have likely derailed his chance to hit 4,000 passing yards for the third time in as many NFL seasons. However, he is still among the most prolific passers in league history in terms of yardage production in a player's first three seasons. Winston passed Joe Flacco to take over the 10th spot on that list during Sunday's game in Green Bay and is likely to move up several more spots before season's end.

Most Passing Yards, First Three Seasons of Career, NFL History

**Quarterback** **Team** **Seasons** **Yards**
Andrew Luck IND 2012-14 12,957
Peyton Manning IND 1998-2000 12,287
Dan Marino MIA 1983-85 11,431
Andy Dalton CIN 2011-13 11,360
Cam Newton CAR 2011-13 11,299
Ryan Tannehill MIA 2012-14 11,252
Blake Bortles JAX 2014-16 11,241
Derek Carr OAK 2014-16 11,194
Drew Bledsoe NE 1993-95 10,556
Jameis Winston TB 2015-17 10,322
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