The NFL was back in full force last weekend. Many great and surprising games were played, including the biggest upset of the week, our hometown team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

   The Buccaneers starting quarterback, Jameis Winston,  was suspended in the off-season for the first three games of the 2018 season due to a violation of the team’s personal conduct policy. Many expected that they would lose this game by a mile, due to the fact that their backup quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, hasn’t been consistent over the years. The Bucs are Fitzpatrick’s seventh team in the NFL and he played college football for Harvard.

   Last Sunday’s game was in New Orleans taking on the Saints and their stellar offense led by future Hall of Famer Drew Brees. The Saints were the division champions last year and they almost made it to the NFC Championship game. Before the game, game predictors had the Saints crushing the Bucs by more than double digits. At the start of the game, the Saints received the ball and drove past the Bucs injury filled defense capping a 75 yard drive in less than four minutes at the start of the game. From that start, it sure looked like they were going to get  crushed.

   Then it was time to bring in the magic. Fitz-magic, that is. Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bucs quickly responded with a three minute, five play drive, with the touchdown being a 52 yard strike to Desean Jackson. From there it was all Fitzmagic. Fitzmagic played lights out drive after drive, as he lead the Bucs to 48-40 win over Saints. Fitzpatrick finished the game, according to NFL.com, with completing 21 out of 28 pass attempts, for 417 yards, 5 total touchdowns (4 passing and 1 running). With defense being below average, Fitzpatrick carried the team to a victory.

   Two days after the game, Ryan Fitzpatrick received honors from the NFL as their weekly rewards, where they post the best performers of the week. Surprisingly, this was the first time Fitzpatrick received such honors.

   This Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the last years Superbowl champion, The Philadelphia Eagles at Raymond James Stadium. Both teams will feature their backup quarterbacks. Nick Foles has been leading the Eagles strongly in place of the injured MVP caliber quarterback Carson Wentz. The Eagles have a top 3 defense, who will be giving Ryan Fitzpatrick pressure all day. Let’s see how the Bucs do next week and hopefully they can pull out the victory to start 2-0!