JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' hopes of defending their Super Bowl title may have been terminated by rookie Byron Leftwich, Fred Taylor and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Leftwich threw a go-ahead 48-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Smith early in the fourth quarter and Taylor had several key rushes down the stretch as the Jaguars beat the Buccaneers, 17-10.
Tampa Bay (5-7) slipped three games behind Dallas and Carolina with four remaining in the race for the two NFC wild card berths.
"Obviously, it hurts your playoff hopes," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "We want to win two games in a row and get some kind of momentum into the final four games of the season. Now we will have to manufacture that momentum ourselves and try to go down to New Orleans and try to beat a team we haven't had much success against lately."
Leftwich, who had thrown eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions entering the contest, went 20-of-34 for 224 yards and two TDs without an interception for Jacksonville (3-9), which began the night tied with Atlanta and San Diego for the worst record in the NFL.
"I never lost confidence in myself," Leftwich said. "I think the second you give up is the second everyone else around you gives up. My teammates still had all the confidence in me and I think it's just something I had to go through. I'm just happy we came away with the win."
"He responded like the guy we think he's going to be," Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. "He didn't duck anything. He came out really poised, really focused and played a heck of a football game and gave us an opportunity to win."
The game was tied, 10-10, before Leftwich connected with Smith down the right sideline for the go-ahead score with 10:23 left. Smith made a diving catch past corner Tim Wansley, who appeared to come up lame with a hamstring pull around the 10-yard line.
"I didn't know until I got to the sideline that he pulled up," Smith said. "But I probably would have pulled up, too, so I wouldn't be in the highlights."
With 3:11 remaining, Jaguars defensive end Hugh Douglas batted down a fourth-down pass from Brad Johnson. Bucs cornerback Ronde Barber then made an apparent diving interception, but it was overturned by a replay challenge.
Taylor then picked up a pair of first downs, including one on 4th-and-inches, to help the Jaguars run out the clock.
"We closed it out in style on national TV and people across the nation got a chance to see what the Jaguars are going to be all about," Del Rio said on the 10th anniversary of the date Jacksonville was awarded the franchise. "We were ready as a football team to win the game and be aggressive."
Taylor had 29 carries for 119 yards and Smith 10 catches for 136 yards for Jacksonville, which prevented Tampa Bay from winning consecutive games for the first time this season.
Jacksonville kicker Seth Marler missed two field goals, a 35-yard attempt in the first quarter and a 41-yard try in the third, both of which went wide left.
Tampa Bay's Martin Gramatica was wide left on a 45-yard attempt with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.
