Leonard Fournette erupts for 4 TDs as Buccaneers edge Colts
"Playoff Lenny" made a regular-season appearance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
Leonard Fournette racked up four total touchdowns in a thrilling 38-31 win for the Bucs against the Indianapolis Colts, lifting the defending Super Bowl champions to 8-3 this season.
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Leonard Fournette scored four touchdowns to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 38-31 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Fournette — who picked up the "Playoff Lenny" moniker during last season's Super Bowl run — had his best performance as a member of the Buccaneers.
The 26-year-old running back ran for 100 yards and three TDs on 17 carries, plus he added seven catches for 31 yards and another score.
He is just the third non-QB Buccaneers player to find the end zone four times in one game, joining Jimmie Giles (1985) and Doug Martin (2012).
On a day where Tom Brady wasn't at his best, Fournette's timing couldn't have been more opportune. Down 24-14 at the half, the Bucs overcame a sloppy start that included two first-half turnovers to snag the win.
Brady went 25-for-34 for 226 yards, one touchdown pass — caught by Fournette — one interception and an 88.6 passer rating.
The Colts turned his interception early in the second quarter into a touchdown, as an 11-play drive put the hosts up 17-7.
However, Brady did deliver when it mattered most, with the game on the line in Tampa Bay's final drive of the game. On that game-winning march, Brady went 4-for-4 for 30 yards.
Fournette put the cherry on top with a bruising 28-yard touchdown, stiff-arming one defender and carrying another en route to the end zone.
Pitted against Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who was coming off a five-TD performance in Week 11 and registered his ninth straight game with a rushing TD on Sunday, it was Fournette who came out on top.
Combined with an opportunistic defense, Fournette's career day lifted the Buccaneers in a way they had yet to see from the running back in the regular season.
In 27 total games with the Bucs, Fournette had reached the 100-yard rushing mark just once coming into play Sunday — in Week 2 of the 2020 regular season.
Ahead of the win against the Colts, Fournette had four total touchdowns this season. Now, that total has doubled, as has his number of 100-yard rushing games for the Buccaneers.
After the game, Fournette told reporters that he delivered a speech to his teammates at halftime.
"I'm like, ‘You have to have a will and a want. You have to [be] willing to risk everything play by play. You have to want to win, want to fight each and every play.' And I think they understood that message and came out and played their lights out," Fournette said.
After endearing himself to Bucs fans with three touchdowns in four playoff games last postseason, Fournette is showing his growing value as an every-week running back, too.