Otton Has NFL Coming-Out Party With Game-Winning Catch

The former UW standout hooks up with Tom Brady to beat the Rams.

There they were, the two most recent Super Bowl champions, battling it out in the middle of Florida on national TV.

The game came down to the next-to-the-last play on a first-and-goal at the Los Angeles Rams 1, with Tom Brady calling the quarterback shots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So what the Greatest of All-Time decide to do with the ball?

He went to a Husky for the win, the new guy at tight end, someone still getting acclimated to the Sunshine State and the NFL all at once.

Cade Otton came off a block with a deft spin move and found himself wide open to haul in a 1-yard touchdown pass for the game-winning points in the Bucs' 16-13 victory in Tampa.

Appearing in his seventh pro football game, in a rookie season already sadly marked by the passing of his mom, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Otton enjoyed maybe his ultimate football moment.

"Baby Gronk has arrived," a broadcaster shouted following a 5-catch, 68-yard, 1-touchdown coming-out game for Otton. 

The Bucs' final drive began with a 28-yard strike from Brady to Otton, who now has season totals of 23 catches for 246 yards and that clever TD.

One of the first players to greet Otton after his heroics was former UW teammate and fellow Tampa Bay edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.

Former Huskies Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Cade Otton celebrate a big win and Otton's game-winner :: Douglas DeFelice/USA TODAY Sports

The Tumwater, Washington, native had to be at his best because the guy from Yakima, Washington, two cities separated by 170 miles, was at his very best on this day for the Rams. 

Wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who should have been a Husky or the very least a WSU Cougar but played for Eastern Washington, would finish with 8 receptions for 127 yards, which included a 69-yard scoring catch.

Yet this day belonged to Otton and the Bucs as they rallied to pull out a tough victory at home, and the tight-end torch officially was passed from retired Tampa Bay tight end Rob Gronkowski, who can now concentrate on making goofy TV commercials.

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