The Morning After
December 19th, 2016
(Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com)
An abbreviated “The Morning After” due to the late game last night.
Playoff Odds Shrink
The Bucs saw their playoff odds take a hit, as one would expect with a loss last night. Now, the Bucs have to worry about both the Redskins and the Packers.
Long story short, the Bucs (8-6) do not have tiebreakers against the Redskins (7-5-1) and with the Packers, well, it gets dicey. Best bet here is that the Redskins lose tonight to Carolina and the Packers win out to take the NFC North title.
Simply put, the Bucs do not control their playoff hopes as of this morning. All they can do is win their final two games and cross their fingers.
What Defense?
A rookie throwing for 89 percent completion percentage, second-most in NFL history? What in the name of Lovie Smith is going on here?
The Bucs’ defense played, OK, nothing more. But needing more than a couple of key stops in the fourth quarter, the Bucs couldn’t get them. The Cowboys were able to get three fourth-quarter field goals, which was the difference in the game.
In two of the past three games prior to Dallas, the Bucs choked out Russell Wilson and Drew Brees. Sunday, they let a rookie complete passes at will.
Sorry folks, that wasn’t a playoff defense.
Bad Jameis Showed Up
When the team needed him on the biggest stage, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston exited stage left.
Yeah, he had a brilliant drive in the third quarter, but other than that had a sloppy, ill-disciplined game. He accounted for all four turnovers (yes, two you could excuse).
Still an inconsistent quarterback. His highs are awesome. His lows make you want to slam your head into the wall.
Gosder Cherilus = Swinging Saloon Doors
Gosder Cherilus can no longer pass block. At all.
Last week, Joe saw Cherilus get worked over regularly. Last night, Cherilus got ragdolled virtually every time Jameis went back to pass. One pick Jameis had was directly on Cherilus, as David Irving blew past Cherilus virtually untouched and hit Jameis’ arm as he was throwing.
It got so bad that in mid-possession, Cherilus was pulled for Leonard Wester, a rookie from Division-II Missouri Western. Joe can’t ever remember a former first-round pick being pulled in the middle of a possession for a Division-II rookie. That’s how bad Cherilus was pass blocking, and has been.
Misleading Stats
The Bucs have been among the NFL’s best at third down defense during their five-game winning streak. That continued Sunday night when they held the Cowboys to 38 percent conversion rate on third downs. Pretty good.
The same Bucs defense got gouged for 449 yards.
Gameballs:
Kwon Alexander: Monster game. 21 tackles, 11 solo, two for a loss and a forced fumble.
Cam Brate: Five catches for 73 yards, a touchdown and a sick catch from Jameis that he somehow held onto after getting blasted by Sean Lee.
Quotes:
“I’m never going to doubt if these guys are going to play hard and compete. That’s not the issue. We did fine in those areas. We didn’t play as smart as we’ve been playing. We’ve already mentioned several examples of that and, against a good team like this, that’s going to be tough to overcome.” — Bucs coach Dirk Koetter.
“I’m trying to compete, that’s all. Sometimes you’ve just got to eat it, and carry on to the next play. Definitely can’t turn the ball over on your side of the field. That hurts your defense.” — Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston.
“Was he 32-for-36 in the game? So clearly he was seeing things well, he threw the ball well. Made a lot of really good decisions, a lot of really good throws. I thought we did a good job moving the ball. ” — Dallas coach Jason Garrett on Dak Prescott.
“I think the only time we slowed down was when we were stopping ourselves. We were making penalties. — Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Lastly:
Again, “Punts” as this piece is abbreviated for the late game. But Joe just wants to give a shoutout to Rod Carter of WFLA-TV Channel 8 who used the “America’s Quarterback” moniker for Jameis in his intro to begin his newscast after the game last night.
“America’s Quarterback faces America’s Team.”
Thanks Rod!
December 19th, 2016 at 7:07 am
Hard,long,cold walk out of jerry world last night I was devastated for Jameis I know they are going to eat him alive over that last pick 🙁 He will get better we clearly aren’t ready for the playoffs and we desperately need offensive weapons asap!
December 19th, 2016 at 7:11 am
This team is not ready for prime time/playoffs yet. Still a young QB and young team growing. The lack of run game makes my hear hurt. I would like Coach Koetter to try another RB, Martin is NOT getting the job done. WHY did it take 4 quarters to pull the swinging gate #78? Like Joe said 2 games in a row, terrible. The D was handed their asses last night, Kwon was a beast, other then that.. meah. We need to see more wrinkles in play calling on the O side. When you have a stud like Evans, you must find a way to get the man the ball. Jameis had a bad game( god awful if you take away the 3rd quarter), and needs to settle his ass down at times.
December 19th, 2016 at 7:20 am
First off, Thank you Buc’s for the Great win streak that we got to witness this season!!!! Some very fun football was watched this season, and that is very rare in these parts!!!!
So some of you are asking, The Bucs got punched in the face, Now WHAT????
This is a great opportunity to see how the Bucs now respond. Is this a good team that says “NO way, Not 2 in row” !!!!! Are they going to be mad and about to take it out on the saints!!!!!! We are still in the first year of the new coaching staff!!! Maybe some need to stop living and dying with “playoffs” and focus on how this team is maturing!!!!!
I said at the beginning of the year, the Bucs need to play this very tough schedule, We can truly measure where this team is at!!! as it will expose this team’s biggest needs!!!!! And watching this team mature and play well this season, and watching them getting coached up, it is not many players away!!!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!!!!!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 7:22 am
This F$%ing game definitely cost me a year and a half relationship, with my girlfriend… Which I’m fine with. What’s bothering me is the fact that if we showed up even just s little, we win that game. I can’t believe we had to wait all day for that. Fuc, reality check.
Please use this as motivation, keep getting better… offense – Get it together!
Defense, the O made it tough on u but wtf, did u not watch the giants cowboys film? We had the blueprint. Didn’t use it. damn. just damn.
December 19th, 2016 at 7:27 am
Joe, please ask Koetter why Jaquizz Rodgers wasn’t activated. He’s way more productive than Martin, and running behind the same o-line
December 19th, 2016 at 7:36 am
Now I have to root for the stinking Panthers to beat the Redskins and I hate the stinking Panthers.
December 19th, 2016 at 7:39 am
Reason for the lose: no running game and Winston’s turnovers on our side of the field. Game still came down to last possession. Defense played winning football, despite offensive turnovers
December 19th, 2016 at 7:42 am
Young, inconsistent QB is right Joe!
Being there in person seeing how off most of his throws were was very frustrating especially when there were other receivers open he could’ve thrown to. Bad decisions and another bad play calling day as well.
If the pressure was getting to Jameis move the pocket!!!! Stop running predictable run plays. Saints offense looked good again a good d so a 9-7 finish seems likely
December 19th, 2016 at 7:48 am
We have two taller fifty -fifty receivers in Evans and Brate.Jameis did a good job getting it to brate,but not so much to Evans.Jameis was forcing balls to the smaller Humphries for a 40% completion rate.
Jameis needs to stay out of pileups to keep from getting hurt and making
foolish headbutts.
December 19th, 2016 at 7:49 am
This one hurt. It was very cold walking out of that stadium to the car but I couldn’t feel anything I was so upset. Bucs defensive line had very little push all game, and to be honest the cowboys missed two field goals and had a penalty taken away a touchdown so the final score could have been 39 to 20. Why is it anytime Tampa plays a prime time game at night they play this way? There’s something going on because there’s a consistent pattern happening and it it’s very disappointing.
December 19th, 2016 at 7:56 am
The prime struggles I strongly believe are because, of lack of talent. Prime time games usually feature good teams Bucs have too many holes to compete with those teams while making a ton of mistakes.
Bucs have played 14 games and Jameis hasn’t turned the ball over in 3 of those 14 games. It’s a problem that’s hurting this team
December 19th, 2016 at 8:00 am
I’m never OK with losing…but
Their QB threw for nearly 90%
Their RB ran for over 150 yds
We turned it over 4 times
Jameis threw for less than 50%
We had zero running game
Our Oline was manhandled
And we still had two chances at game winning drives at the end of the game…on the road.
We have the draft picks and money to add quality players….our day is coming.
December 19th, 2016 at 8:25 am
@TBBF, very well said. I said basically the same thing in the next post.
These past 6 games have shown promise. Yes, including last night’s game that the Bucs could (woulda, coulda, shoulda) have won. We have a lot of holes to fill – have your best year Mr Licht!!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 8:35 am
2010 all over again! GB might kick us out of the playoffs AGAIN!!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 8:42 am
GB won’t keep the Bucs out of the playoffs the play of our star players will
December 19th, 2016 at 8:43 am
Sometimes “we’re not quite good enough right now” is right answer. I just didn’t expect the offense to struggle this badly in the past few weeks.
December 19th, 2016 at 8:46 am
The only reason the Cowboys didn’t roll up the score is they committed penalties in the red zone. Had nothing to do with the Bucs defense.
The Bucs defense disappeared. There was zero pressure on Prescott.
December 19th, 2016 at 8:49 am
So much for film study. Where is that dumbass post Joe and ira wrote talking smack about Dallas and every poster taking shots at Dallas about being vulnerable, there’s no reason to read that nonsense if you get your news from ESPN.
Win or lose I’m proud of the way they fought, it’s just with the losses we had earlier in the year didn’t think we’d stop the run or rush them well. If not the weak link that is cherilus we may have won, he should never take the field again. A for effort unfortunately Winston didn’t have a good game. I walked away from that game thinking we could have won and that’s a good sign we will be a force next year with a good draft of players in the trenches.
Jason licht please wake up and upgrade our offense next year
December 19th, 2016 at 9:20 am
this was tough….the defense could’ve played a lot better but they were put in a few bad positions by the offense….lots of questions for the coaching staff…..why no blitz?…why no disguise?….why no Rodgers?…why not use sims more….he was on the field when we were marching down the field and scoring td’s….
dirk needs to watch green bay and how they use ty Montgomery….we can use sims in the same way….GO BUCS!!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 9:28 am
The oline play needs to be fixed. That said Jameis stalled a promising drive with his
headbutt early on.His accuracy to Evans and other receivers also has to be improved.Believe the time for the deep pass to Evans should have been thrown early in the game not with everything on the line late.Jameis has to hit this pass more often to get defense to respect it and open up the run.
December 19th, 2016 at 9:40 am
Reasons of the loss:
1. Let a rookie complete 89% of his passes. Terrible pass rush and coverage.
2. Oline couldn’t block for sh1t. No running game at all, tons of pressure on JW.
3. Jameis had a bad game.
December 19th, 2016 at 10:10 am
26-20: Cowdungs
*4 turnovers and a free 10 points. The difference was 6. Given to a 11-2 team.
*FameisJ went haywire and lost his cool. Bet he’s gonna hate reviewing game film.
*Bucs beat themselves last night. That’s not too shabby cos they didn’t quit.
*I’m going to enjoy the final 2 games and next season. It sure feels good to say it.
*Go Tampa Bay!!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 10:20 am
Bucs are a young team on the rise, but obviously there are still a few key pieces missing. Right Tackle….obviously! Doug Martin not playing up to caliber. Another pass rushing DT or DE. A thumping Safety to help on the back end. And a speedy WR2 opposite Evans(Keep Brate and Humphries).
But the biggest need is Oline! Last night we lost because we couldn’t protect our QB and couldn’t establish the run….in site of the deficiencies on Defense, we still might have won that game if our Oline had played better .
December 19th, 2016 at 10:32 am
I’m proud of what I have seen from this team so far. Ups and downs for sure, but the future is really very bright. And coach K doesn’t look anything like he did early this season. Proud of this team, but still hungry.
December 19th, 2016 at 10:35 am
Jacquizz Rodgers should be STARTING. Not INACTIVE. Right now he’s the best RB on the team. For whatever reason — injury, conditioning, or other, Doug Martin has not run well this season. And the running game never looked as in sync as it did when Quizz took over mid-season. I wonder if he hadn’t hurt his foot and had continued to start and put up big numbers, if he still would have been replaced. Go back to him now, with Wild Card on the line.
December 19th, 2016 at 11:07 am
When it comes to prime time games I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. They’re not going to pull it away THIS time! No way are the Bucs going to embarrass all of Tampa Bay again! What difference does winning streaks or the playoffs make if we can’t handle prime time games? Maybe next time, if there is a next time, Warren Sapp can address the locker room. There’s somebody who knew how to show up when the lights went on.
December 19th, 2016 at 11:07 am
I did not pick our Bucs in my weekly football pool. I knew the tale of the tape would be Dallas’s Much bigger and stronger Offensive & Defensive lines. We have a great chance of finishing 9-7. Buc fans got a chance to see what true NFL Power looks like last night. Their 4th rd QB outplayed ours because of their superior front line. Jameis took some real hard sacks. Proof..you don’t need a 1st rd QB to succeed. But you’d better have that beef up front.
December 19th, 2016 at 12:05 pm
McCoy’s pre-game speech disguised as a clown show set an awful tone in my opinion. At least he backed it up with a goose egg on the stat sheet. I like him just fine but motivating the team through his words has never been his strong suit.