Star Buccaneers WR's clutch play illustrated by stunning streak

Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Star Buccaneers receiver's clutch play exemplified by stunning three-year streak

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated Oct 18, 2024 1:44 PM ET

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers still have more than half of their regular season remaining, but star wide receiver Chris Godwin is on pace for new career highs in nearly every prominent offensive category.

He has a league-leading 43 receptions, 324 yards after catch and 30 receiving first downs. Godwin also ranks inside the top three with five touchdowns (tied for first), 11.7 yards per touch (second) and 511 receiving yards (third) and will likely be heading to his first Pro Bowl season since 2019, if he stays healthy.

Most recently, the 28-year-old had an electric 55-yard catch-and-run to the end zone in the team's Week 6 win over the New Orleans Saints.

Godwin's been especially reliable in the fourth quarter over the last three-plus seasons, as noted by PFF's X account, which passes along that the veteran wideout has not dropped a fourth-quarter target (105 straight) since the first week of the 2021-22 campaign.

Chris Godwin has not dropped a 4th quarter target since Week 1 of 2021 (105 straight targets)

The most consecutive 4Q targets without a drop pic.twitter.com/1Y01SlAXB8
— PFF (@PFF) October 18, 2024

The Penn State product has had at least five catches, six targets and 53 receiving yards in each of Tampa Bay's first six contests this fall. Godwin has also scored touchdowns in four of those games and is already more than halfway to his career high of nine scores, which he set in 2019.

The 2017 draft pick was in the midst of another stellar campaign in 2021 when the fourth-quarter reception streak was in its infancy, but suffered a torn ACL and an MCL injury in Week 15. He missed the end of the regular season and the playoffs that year, but returned in 2022 after sitting out two of the first three contests.

Godwin played all 17 games last year and had his third straight 1,000-yard season, but was overshadowed by wide receiver Mike Evans, who led the NFL with 13 touchdowns and made his fifth Pro Bowl.

This fall, Godwin has taken over as one of the best wideouts in the game and doesn't look to be slowing down, especially in crunch time.

Victor Barbosa

Victor Barbosa is a passionate follower of MLB, the NBA and NFL, with a deep interest in Boston-area teams. He graduated from Springfield College -- The Birthplace of Basketball -- in 2013 with a degree in Communications-Sports Journalism. Previous bylines include FanSided, Heavy and Syracuse

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