Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea scored a touchdown on Sunday, making a goal-line catch from Jameis Winston. After Tampa’s 35-16 win over the Falcons, Vita spoke to PFT about his first touchdown since he was a high school running back.
Was he worried about dropping the ball?
“I had gloves on,” Vea said, explaining that the gloves really do make it easier to catch footballs.
Vea also said that he didn’t worry about catching the ball because he thought that someone was covering him, and that he was expected to get hit immediately after the ball arrived.
Vea added that he has no idea who devised the play, and he declined to get into details about how long the play has been in the playbook. Vea said only that it had been practiced a couple of times. He admitted that, in practice, he didn’t drop the ball.
So would he rather get a sack or score a touchdown?
“That’s a good question,” Vea said. "[Ndamukong] Suh and I actually talked about that today. He said he’d rather have a sack. I’d rather have a touchdown.”
Both had touchdowns on Sunday; only Vea had a sack. The most important thing is that the Bucs got a win, and they’re now 4-7 and still alive in the wild-card race in the NFC, even if they have no margin for error and would need plenty of help.