Around the state: Team streaks come to an end

Each of Florida's NFL teams snapped a streak last weekend.

For the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins, that was good news as they broke losing strings.

The Jaguars defeated Tennessee 24-19 to win for the first time in eight games. The Dolphins snapped a three-game skid by beating Seattle 24-21.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, however, failed to extend their four-game winning streak. The Bucs lost to the Atlanta Falcons 24-23.

Despite the defeat, the Buccaneers (6-5) remained in a three-way tie for the sixth and final NFC wild-card spot with Seattle and Minnesota.

Here's a more in-depth look at Week 12 around the state:



Jaguars 24, Titans 19: Chad Henne started in place of injured Blaine Gabbert and picked up where he left off the previous week, when he threw for four touchdowns in relief at Houston.

Making his first start in more than a year, Henne completed 17 of 26 passes for 261 yards, a touchdown and an interception. It was his first win as a starter since December 2010.

But Henne was sacked seven times, twice taking the Jaguars out of field-goal range.

Jags linebacker Russell Allen deflected a Jake Locker pass that was intercepted by safety Dwight Lowery at Jacksonville's 43 with 2:40 left. The Jaguars (2-9) added a field goal and survived two final Titans plays to cement the victory.

Despite beginning the game ranked 31st in total yardage allowed, Jacksonville forced Tennessee to settle for field-goal attempts five times (one missed) and one touchdown even though they advanced inside the Jaguars' 25 six times. Game gallery »

Dolphins 24, Seahawks 21: Riding a three-game losing streak, and with New England and San Francisco coming up, the Dolphins knew there was urgency to win Sunday.

Rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill led Miami on a game-wining drive, capped by Dan Carpenter's 43-yard field goal as time expired.

Tannehill, who had struggled in previous weeks after an encouraging start to the season, moved the Dolphins (5-6) from their own 10-yard line to deep in Seattle territory in just a minute and half.

For the game, Tannehill completed 18 of 26 attempts for 253 yards and a touchdown. The performance enabled Tannehill to break Dan Marino's rookie passing record (2,210, set in 1983).

Besides marking Tannehill's first fourth-quarter comeback, it was the first time in 49 tries Miami won after trailing by seven points or more entering the fourth quarter.

The Dolphins running game, which also struggled recently, produced 189 yards (6.8 average). Reggie Bush rushed for 87 yards -- including a 21-yard touchdown run -- and Daniel Thomas 60 yards in Miami's first 100-yard game since Week 3.

The Sun Life Stadium lawn sprinklers came on between plays in the third period, causing a brief delay and drawing a roar from the crowd. Game gallery »

Falcons 24, Buccaneers 23: A tough loss for the Bucs, who were focused to knock off the division-leading Falcons (10-1).

Trailing by one point, Tampa Bay faced fourth-and-7 with 3:32 left. The Bucs had all three timeouts remaining, but coach Greg Schiano let Connor Barth try a 56-yard field goal instead of punting and putting his faith in the Bucs defense.

Barth had made 4 of 6 attempts of 50 more yards this season,  but he missed on this occasion to virtually seal the Bucs' fate.

Tampa Bay's defense surrendered 424 total yards and allowed the Falcons to convert eight of 13 third-down chances. Atlanta's Matt Ryan completed 26 of 32 for 353 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

On offense, the Bucs turned two takeaways into field goals instead of touchdowns and there was at least one potential big pass play quarterback Josh Freeman missed.

Freeman completed 19 of 30 for 256 yards and no touchdowns.  He had thrown at least two touchdown passes in each of his previous six games.

Bucs running back Doug Martin was held to 50 yards rushing on 21 carries, his second-lowest output of the season. He ran for 33 yards against Washington in Week 4. Game gallery »



Miami kicker Dan Carpenter

Carpenter celebrated his 27th birthday by booting the game-winning 43-yard field goal as time expired.

The kick was Carpenter's first game winner since 2010, and it atoned for missing a would-be winner in a home loss to the New York Jets in Week  3.

Honorable mention to last week's winner, Chad Henne.

Making his first start with the Jaguars, Henne energized the offense for a second straight week. His first pass against Tennessee was tipped and intercepted by Alterraun Verner. Henne responded by throwing for 261 yards and a touchdown.


Bucs coach Greg Schiano

Schiano decided to give Connor Barth a chance to kick a 56-yard field goal with 3:32 remaining instead of punting and asking his defense to hold Atlanta. Tampa Bay still had all three timeouts left at the time.

Barth missed the kick, and Tampa Bay didn't get the ball back until there were 8 seconds left in the game from its own 38.



Jaguars running back Rashad Jennings on coach Mike Mularkey chest-bumping players as they entered the postgame locker room: “That felt good. We have a coach that was excited to win a ballgame and excited to watch us play four quarters. It solidified inside this building all of the hard work we do.”

Safety Dawan Landry on the Jags winning a close game: “A lot of our games have been close and we've been on the short end when teams have gotten a field goal or touchdown on us. We wanted to close one out as a defense.”

Coach Mike Mularkey on his offense allowing seven sacks of Chad Henne: “There's no way we should give up seven sacks to anybody. We cannot have that.”

Mularkey on injured running back Maurice Jones-Drew:  “I'd like to get MJD back, even if it's only for a few games. We want to finish strong and we need everybody we can to help us finish strong. … If we felt like it was a year ending thing, we would have handled that differently a long time ago.”

Dolphins linebacker Kevin Burnett on his 5-6 team: “When you look at it, every game is a playoff game from now on out. Now is the time, and this is it. One play, one series, and if we can keep that attitude, we are a tough to beat. We are tough. You have to play dang near flawless to beat us.”

Running back Reggie Bush on Miami's game-winning drive: “It was almost like being in practice. We practice so many situations against our defense, so today I don't think anybody was nervous, anybody was pressing. It just felt really relaxed and calm out there.”

Miami linebacker Karlos Dansby on the victory: “Character is built through experiences like (this). Today showed our resolve.”

Dolphins coach Joe Philbin on sprinklers going off during the game: “That wasn't in the head coaching manual — to prepare the team with the sprinklers going off.”

Bucs left tackle Donald Penn on losing to Atlanta: “We should have won, because we outplayed them. That's the worst thing, when you feel like you should have won and you didn't. They just wound up making one or two more plays than we did.''

Tampa Bay defensive tackle Roy Miller on the loss: “Emotionally, you're locked into this team all week long and so it hurts. We knew it was going to be a brawl, and they were just one play better than us.''

Falcons safety William Moore on the Bucs: "That was a huge division win for us and Tampa Bay is a heck of a football team. They've got some athletes over there and they're well-coached. Looking around the stadium today, the whole atmosphere seems to have changed in Tampa.''


• Jacksonville had been outscored 153-44 in five previous home losses.

• Receiver Cecil Shorts set a Jaguars record with his fourth catch of at least 50 yards this season, surpassing the previous mark held by Keenan McCardell (1998) and Jimmy Smith (1999).

• Quarterback Chad Henne broke a personal seven-game losing streak dating to his time with the Miami Dolphins.

• The Jaguars had a season-high nine plays (all passes) of at least 20 yards.

• Jacksonville rushed 27 times for 100 yards to snap a team record-tying seven-game streak in which it hadn't reached the 100-yard plateau.

• Henne became the 15th different quarterback to start a game for the Jaguars.

• Davone Bess has 315 receptions since the Dolphins signed him as an undrafted free agent. No player has had more catches through five years with Miami.

• Miami had three completions of more than 25 yards after having none in its previous two games, and added three more completions of 18-plus yards.

• Sunday's victory was Miami's first comeback win in the last two minutes since 2009.

• Miami improved to 12-1 at home vs. West Coast teams since 1997.

• Bucs Safety Ronde Barber started his 210th straight game to tie former Oakland center Jim Otto for seventh on the all-time ironman list. Barber also notched his team-high fourth interception of the season and 47th of his 16-year career.

• Bucs running back Doug Martin's two touchdown runs gave nine for the season and set the franchise's mark for most rushing touchdowns by a rookie. Martin had been tied with Errict Rhett (1994) and Lars Tate (1988) with seven.

• Tampa Bay receiver Tiquan Underwood set career highs in catches (5) and receiving yards (77).

• The Bucs five losses this season have been by a combined 23 points.
    

Jacksonville at Buffalo — Sunday 1 p.m. ET (Bills favored by 7): The Jags will be looking to make it two straight wins when they face the Bills (4-7), who are 5-15 in their past 20 games.

After allowing seven sacks against Tennessee, Jacksonville's offensive line will try and subdue Mario Williams, who leads the Bills with 8.5 sacks – that's the most since Aaron Schobel finished 2009 with 10 sacks.

Williams has seven sacks over his last six games.

Mularkey said injured running back Maurice Jones-Drew (foot) will “probably” be out another week.

New England at Miami — Sunday 1 p.m. ET (Patriots favored by  9): This will be the season's first meeting between the AFC East rivals. The two teams will play at New England on the regular-season's final weekend.

Last week, the Dolphins defense had to worry about Seattle's ground game and the mobility of QB Russell Wilson. Future Hall of Famer Tom Brady isn't as mobile as Wilson, but so what?

The Patriots (8-3) are riding a five-game winning streak … during which they have averaged 43.8 points!  They are plus-24 in turnover margin overall and can clinch the division crown with a victory.

New England has won 19 consecutive games in the season's second half, dating to 2010.

Tampa Bay at Denver — Sunday 4:05 p.m. ET (Broncos favored by 8): Tampa Bay's defense, last in the NFL against the pass, will face another severe test against Peyton Manning and the Broncos (8-3).

It won't help that corner back Eric Wright, who missed Sunday's loss with an Achilles injury, has been suspended for four games for violating the NFL's policy on performance enhancing substances.

The Bucs defense also will try and improve on third down. The San Diego Chargers, Carolina Panthers and Falcons combined to convert 60 percent of their third downs the past three weeks.