Bucs 22, Falcons 17
December 30th, 2012
Joe’s ecstatic that the Bucs beat the real, first-team Falcons, rather than some shell of the now 13-3 NFC leaders.
This was a massive win for the New Schiano Order, which restored hope and confidence to players and fans for the long offseason. There just would have been no way to positively spin a six-game losing streak to end the 2012 season.
Doug Martin jumped into all kinds of elite company among rookie running backs with 142 yards on the ground, and the pass defense actually showed up! They “bowed their necks,” as Greg Schiano likes to say, and stymied a strong offense on the road.
Josh Freeman, well, he’ll be back in 2013, and the way he played today is about what fans can expect. It was “OK” Josh, and enough to win a lot of games with a real Bucs defense on the field.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
and the hate will now begin lol
good win, glad they won, screw draft positioning
December 30th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
Thank you defense, Doug Martin, Mike Williams, Vincent Jackson, and Coach Schaino for showing up today and going to work.
Time to focus on the offseason now. As always, GO BUCSS!!!!!
December 30th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
The secondary was playing for their jobs, too bad they couldnt play like that all year….Wright will be gone and so will some of the others.
I would have rather had a better draft position but at least Dougie got a nice TD run.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
And let the off season begin. I hope Dom is on the phone right now with Bennetts agent. A lot of work to be done to turn this team around next year.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
Greg did a fine job of getting his team up and ready. All in all seven wins in first year ain’t too bad. I didn’t expect that many.
I’d take a win over a draft position, it’s a crapshoot anyway.
This was sorely needed IMO. Lot of good signs, especially hamster.
Only thing that sucks is the eight months we have to wait for another Bucs game.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
As a fan im happy to see them win. I didnt wanna see them lose just to get a little better draft pick. Nice to go into the off season with just a tiny bit of momentum. Defense looked pretty solid today. Really the last 2 weeks they looked half way decent. Nice to see a decent pass rush as the game went on. And its fun to watch Doug Martin when he finds a hole.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Carolina beating New Orleans, based on strengh of victory (supercedes all other tiebreakers when it comes to draft position ) only downside is we technically finish last.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Glad Josh played “okay”on his way to setting franchise records for td’s and yards ……lmao
December 30th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
guess we are picking between 11th and 15th..
December 30th, 2012 at 5:43 pm
“Glad Josh played “okay”on his way to setting franchise records for td’s and yards ……lmao”
KC should be glad to send us their #1 overall pick for Gosh now.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Raphael, Freeman may be played good today, but bottom-line he failed to show up when it mattered most. When we still had a shot at making the playoffs. He had a horrendous meltdown the last several weeks up until today.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
KC just set an all time offensive record for rushing in a season. Sound familiar?
December 30th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Finishing last is great really. I’ll take the easier schedule and higher draft pick.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Winning this game really accomplishes nothing.
Look at Freeman’s play in this game and you’ll see the same old situation – under thrown, inaccurate passes. The long ball to VJackson showed that Josh’s arm strength isn’t impressive.
The 3rd down conversion that VJax virtually picked off the turf was a brillant WR play but 26 of the 32 QB’s in the league can/do throw that pass earlier and better.
Freeman waits too long for the receivers to be completely open before throwing the ball and yes again he got another INT.
Sorry but with Josh Freeman at the helm the Bucs will continue to flounder in an attempt to get to 8-8. They’ll never win the NFC South with Freeman – never.
December 30th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Oh did I mention that the Bucs will NEVER win their division with Freeman as their QB?
December 30th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Well, ill disagree.
If Jekyll can get rid of Hyde
We can win many games.
Josh’s problem is not ability it’s consistency if he can fix that and work on his accuracy he’s a franchise QB. That’s a BIG IF. I would love that to happen, do I believe it will?
No
December 30th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Shaddup mr.lucky, Josh played pree-dang good in my opinion. and quit being grouchy. WE WON. WILL YOU NEVER BE HAPPY? (go bucs)
December 30th, 2012 at 6:15 pm
Freeman gets a new contract when he learns how to be consistent and leads us to the PLAYOFFS. Yes……playoffs. If he doesn’t, let him walk after 2013. Right now he doesn’t deserve an extension.
December 30th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Funny. John lynch disagrees with you freeman bashers. I will take his opinion over yours any day.
December 30th, 2012 at 6:18 pm
pR. Consistency in coaching will bring that.
December 30th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
If the Bucs don’t extend his contract and give him $150 million he will pout his way to the NFC cellar every time.
Yet, they can’t pay him because the G Boys would fire the Teflon Dom and the Little General.
If they pay him his contracted $8.3 million next year and don’t re-sign him they lose all value and equity in him. Teflon Dom and Little General get fired for stupidity.
They trade him for low round draft pick, draft a young stud and save their jobs for a couple years. Trade LGB and a draft pick for Ryan Mallett as insurance.
December 30th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
John Lynch also didn’t shy away from the major concerns some of us have with Free.
December 30th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
Raphael, Dont you know that all of Freemans good games this year dont count, only the bad ones. I guess all the victories this year are because of Martin, Jackson, Williams not Freeman, typical Freeman bashing. The truth is if the bucs stay close in games Freeman plays pretty well, its when they get way behind early in games that he starts forcing throws and starts to throw interceptions,just like he did in 2011. So the solution is get a better defence and they will win more games.
December 30th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
anybody who hates on freeman needs to look at miguel and see the kind of people they are siding with
December 30th, 2012 at 7:28 pm
this team has definitely progressed i mean c’mon ppl do you remember last years season when freeman could barely break a game last year past 200 yards he had a handful of 300 yd, alot of 200yd and i think one 400yd game this year. so its totally not his fault this year if the secondary can at least play solid 10 games i dont see how we cant make the playoffs point blank. i think our only decent corner is e.j. biggers. and i think leonard johnson can get better because hes coachable and he just needs to be a more consistant threat at making a big play but he tackles well.
December 30th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
but im also glad freeman kept his ints to a minimum today. and josh can be truly great we actually and i haven’t seen anyone else post this but we really need a true slot reciever im tired of seeing and undersized and poor route running t. underwood. he’s good back up material at best. and a solid tight end someone who can be a possession recieveing threat. basically anyone faster than dallas clark just with dallas clark hands lol
but thats just my opinion. and i also think some of our back up o lineman could use some extra money due to the fact they stepped in for big name key injuries and did one helluva job against some pretty decent interior pass rushers. i grade this season a c+ at best.