Rams hang on, thanks to Bucs mismanagement, after hour-long weather delay

The Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were having a weird game, and that was before referee Ed Hochuli evacuated the stadium.

With two minutes left in the game, the two-minute warning became a severe weather warning. Hochuli made the announcement that the game would be suspended because of lightning in the area. The delay ended up lasting a little more than an hour.

The Buccaneers didn’t spend the break going over clock management issues, apparently. The mismanagement of the clock cost them dearly in a 37-32 loss. In the final minute, Jameis Winston hit Charles Sims on a pass, Sims didn’t get out of bounds and for some reason the Buccaneers didn’t call timeout even though they had two left. They ran a play instead and lost valuable time, which cost them at the end.

With the Buccaneers down to one final play, Winston ran way past the line of scrimmage, and was wandering about 8 yards past the line still looking to pass when Rams defensive end Robert Quinn tackled him from behind. It was like Winston had no idea where he was on the field, or that he had to get the ball to the end zone. On a strange afternoon, it was a strange ending.

The Buccaneers finished the game at the Rams’ 5-yard line, with one unused timeout.

Winston had 405 yards and three touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a pretty bad loss at home to the Rams. When you score 32 points against the 2016 Rams you should win, but instead the Bucs took a loss that a playoff hopeful shouldn’t take.

it was an odd but entertaining back-and-forth game. Each team had a defensive return for a touchdown, and the Rams — who didn’t have a touchdown in either of their first two games — had two touchdowns of more than 40 yards. The Rams led 37-32, facing a third-and-11, when the weather became dangerous.

So with the game in the balance, the field and stands were cleared. The players had to come back and warm up again, and then play the final two minutes.

The Rams couldn’t get a first down on third-and-long, the Bucs got the ball back and got inside the 20-yard line. They ended up running out of time due to some poor clock management issues.

Maybe they should have used that hour in the locker room more wisely.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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