Bucs beat Jets 24-16 as refs blow a field goal call

Cade Klubnik got his first NFL start Thursday night with Geno Smith held out for precautionary reasons over ankle soreness, and the rookie fourth-rounder actually looked the part, leading scoring drives on both of his series before the Bucs pulled away for a 24-16 win. But the story fans actually cared about had nothing to do with Klubnik's stat line.

Eric Nathan

@BarstoolNate

The officials in Jets/Bucs just called a FG good that appeared to have gone wide by 25 yards

That's the claim that ricocheted around football Twitter late Thursday night: a field goal that looked nowhere close somehow got waved good by the officiating crew. It's worth noting the clip attached to the loudest version of that complaint online isn't actually game footage — it's a Madden simulation of a tied 10-10 game, deployed as a joke rather than a literal replay of the call in question.

Eric Nathan

@BarstoolNate

Dog it wasn’t even close 😂

The actual on-field product had legitimate juice, too. Klubnik found Garrett Wilson for gains of 21 and 11 yards on the opening drive, setting up a 37-yard field goal, and Wilson's hands were a running theme of the broadcast — including a warmup-drill grab clean enough that Barstool joked he'd get the Jets a pick before their actual secondary does.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Put Garrett Wilson in the Jets secondary and he’ll get them an interception before a defensive player

Braelon Allen opened the scoring with a 31-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, but it was Allen's other job Thursday that had fans nervous — the Jets kept sending him out on kick return duty, and one long runback with Tampa Bay defenders in pursuit had people begging the team to shut that down before he gets hurt in a preseason game that means nothing.

Memes

@PardonMyMeme

Never put Braelon on kick return again need this man healthy

Tampa Bay tied it at 10 before halftime on Ayden Garnes' 47-yard interception return touchdown off Bucs QB Bailey Zappe, the kind of turnover that had Barstool piling on Zappe's night in real time.

Memes

@PardonMyMeme

Bailey Zappe might not be the guy

From there Tampa Bay pulled away, getting a third-quarter score from Josh Williams and a late touchdown from Jalon Daniels to close it out at 24-16. It's Week 1 of the preseason, so nobody in the building is losing sleep over the final score — but between a controversial kick, a rookie QB flashing early and a receiver making everyone else look silly in shorts and a helmet, this was about as loud as a meaningless August game gets.