Chris Godwin's career day highlighted by absurd touchdown catch

Even when Chris Godwin fails he succeeds.

The 23-year-old broke off a career-best 184 yards and two touchdowns on just seven receptions Sunday, topping his previous high of 172 yards and creating his own luck during Tampa’s 35-22 victory over Atlanta.

Case in point: On his second touchdown of the first half, Godwin appeared to drop a pass and get completely pummeled by Atlanta’s defense. It’s only once he jumps up and starts celebrating that you notice he somehow pulled off the catch in the end zone.

On third-and-goal with Tampa Bay looking to take the lead, Jameis Winston locates the third-year wideout along the goal line and fires a dangerous pass behind him. But instead of the play resulting in a disaster, the ball bounces off Godwin’s hands and starts heading to the ground before a hit from Kendall Sheffield blocks the pass from reaching the turf. Instead, it appears Sheffield’s knee helps Godwin block the ball from getting away from the receiver, allowing him to adjust and haul it in.

It’s pretty hard to overstate the degree of concentration needed to make a play like this in the span of, maybe, half a second.

The Bucs’ don’t have a lot going for them right now. They’re 3-7 in a rather weak NFC South and the Jameis Winston era may be coming to a close. Whoever inherits this offense next will have two monster wideouts to work with between Mike Evans and Godwin.

It’ll be a fun debate over which is more useful going forward.

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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