Dangerous Team?
November 24th, 2015
Are NFL teams suddenly scared of Lovie and the Bucs?
Reading NFL publications, it seems the pounding the Bucs put over on the Eagles Sunday has sent shock waves across NFL circles.
It’s one thing to get a road win. It’s another to chain-whip a decent team on the road.
And that is what the Bucs did to the Eagles, who were and still are in a playoff hunt. The way the Bucs seal-clubbed the Eagles, it may have mentally knocked them out of contention.
In fact, Don Banks of SI.com believes the way Tampa Bay racked up yards on the Eagles, suddenly, NFL teams — for the first time in years — may be scared of the Bucs.
And it is mostly because of America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston.
The Bucs have come a long way offensively this season, and suddenly they’re capable of rolling up a gaudy 531-yard day, highlighted by Winston’s feats and a 235-yard rushing performance by resurgent running back Doug Martin. Tampa Bay squeaked past the Cowboys 10–6 last week at home but then drilled the Eagles, winning consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 10–12 in 2013, to end the longest such drought in the NFL.
Who’s going to look forward to facing these Bucs, who are 5–5 and suddenly just a game behind second-place Atlanta (6–4) in the NFC South, in the season’s backstretch? They look dangerous, and the only winning opponents they face in the season’s final six games are the slumping Falcons at home in Week 13 and the Panthers at Carolina in Week 17—when the Panthers might have little to play for (providing they’re not still undefeated, of course).
After that gut-wrenching 31–30 loss at Washington in Week 7, when they blew a 24–0 lead to Kirk “You like that?!!” Cousins, the Bucs have been a very tough out. Tampa Bay coach Lovie Smith told the team’s fans not to give up on his young club at that point, and he has proven prescient, with the Bucs going 3–1 since then. Winston has indeed been a quick study, and the mistakes he made earlier in the season are not being repeated. From Week 1 to Week 11, no one in the NFL has shown more improvement than the first player selected in this year’s draft.
When is the last time you ever heard or read that a team might actually be scared to face the Bucs? Joe hasn’t heard that in years, maybe not since the Bucs won the Super Bowl. It’s been that long.
Friends, this is what having a superior quarterback can do — and does — for a team. Not only are the Bucs relevant again, they appear to be dangerous to the rest of the NFL.
November 24th, 2015 at 3:14 pm
Jameis Winston #GOAT.
November 24th, 2015 at 3:24 pm
The “Legend of Winston” continues… Say what you want this young dude is a straight up winner. I’m happy to see him prove everyone wrong. I haven’t heard much JaMarcus…Leaf…Leftwich, comments lately. Lol, JW is going to be a legend when its all said and done. I doubt there will be a sophomore slump with this dude, he has way too much pride to make a fool of himself on the field.
November 24th, 2015 at 3:35 pm
The biggest difference we stayed in the area witout being healty and now that we are getting healthy its going to be some issues for the nfl to deal with . If you replay the game from Sunday you will notice that we went 5 receiver sets multiple times . That shows the confidence and the major.growth with jaboo. You will see this offense put up some real big numbers from here on out .
November 24th, 2015 at 3:49 pm
Pump the brakes some guys. One week earlier, the Bucs almost didn’t score a TD at home against Dallas and had a fraction of that offense. Last week was great, but with a rookie at QB, the injuries and inconsistencies we’ve had at WR, we are just as likely to have a bad game.
There is definite reason for hope, but given the plethora of penalties, dropped balls, missed assignments and other mistakes, it may be premature to declare the Bucs playoff bound.
November 24th, 2015 at 3:52 pm
@Brett did you forget Vincent Jackson didn’t play last week?
November 24th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
Sorry, I just fainted.
November 24th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
It’s our time, damn it. Thinking 6-10 or 7-9 would make me happy. But who knows? Things are turning around quick for our Bucs.
November 24th, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Brett, VJax wasn’t out there vs. Dallas, ASJ still isn’t back, and our 3rd WR is on injured reserve. With VJax back the offense was potent. Once we get ASJ back the passing attack will be even more explosive. If you’re not excited right now about the potential then you never will be. I am worried about the defense. Philly’s two TD drives were way too easy. The offense eating up clock and some key plays on defense may be masking a defense that still has a lot of holes. JW is playing like a franchise QB right now. We draft all defense next year and hit with a few of those picks and this team may be very good team as early as next year.
November 24th, 2015 at 4:20 pm
Scared is great, we can sweep them all and snag that wild card.
November 24th, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Just looking for more improvement every week.I thought 6-10 was possible this year, and if they keep improving at this pace I may have to re-think my prediction. It is so nice to see a top level offense here, the kind I have jealously watched on many other teams. Now fans of other teams may be saying the same thing about the Bucs.
November 24th, 2015 at 5:05 pm
3 in a row would make us dangerous..right now we just have confidence and playing good ball…GO BUCS!!!
November 24th, 2015 at 5:06 pm
How sweet it is….get use to it bucs fans…Jameis is in the house!!!
November 24th, 2015 at 5:26 pm
I am very excited of the development of this offense. Like Brett though, I am tempering my thoughts. If the bucs beat the colts, and we play a complete game at home then, I will be all in favor of the playoff bandwagon
November 24th, 2015 at 5:35 pm
The only bad thing about this is that teams are on notice….we can’t sneak up on them….they will be ready to play a good team…..finally!!!
November 24th, 2015 at 5:42 pm
Jameis Winston thee best QB in the NFC South.
Yes I said it.
November 24th, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Almost didn’t score a td… I’m not even sure what that means. That’s like saying after you got your girlfriend pregnant, that you almost didn’t.
November 24th, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Hold your horses here fellow Buc Fans…Lets not celebrate anything. 5-5 is just what it is. A 500 team thus far. And lets keep it real here..we whipped a 3-5 with a coach whose probably already on his way out. Are we improving? Yes. But theres a lot of penalty crap our team has gotta clean up. A lot. IF..we can beat the Colts..and trust me..they will be better prepared than the Eagles, then we can say we are a slightly above average team. The Colts have a crafty backup QB who has rode successfully in many rodeos and could start for many teams. And they got 2 very good running backs. So like Lovie said in yesterdays PC, one game at a time. Hopefully he can get..Hot Tub ASJ back on the field soon.
November 24th, 2015 at 6:49 pm
I so glad they did their homework and did NOT. Take Johnny football last year. He was an obvious mistake in my opinion and I yelled hard to not take him.
Time for JOE to admit that mistake because he was pushing hard for him !
JW is so far beyond Manziel it’s a joke.
Thank you L n L
November 24th, 2015 at 6:50 pm
The Bucs ended the Eagles playoff hopes imo. They are finished for this year. Next! Break up the Bucs.
November 24th, 2015 at 6:51 pm
The other thing we have to stay aware of are the refs/zebras. I say 8-8 and still stand by it. The Bucs have never been a big deal team in the eyes of the corporate talking heads, etc. It was fun to watch/listen to them nearly throw up when we won a Stupor Bowl. Just morning in America. Go Mighty Bucs!!
November 24th, 2015 at 7:22 pm
And not even at full strength, maybe this week for the offense, but we lose Kwon
November 24th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
The Bucs are improving for sure. JW3 is developing really quickly and is already a top 10 NFL QB.
But lets follow the HC’s lead and not get too high or low after any given game. Sunday’s game was an awesome performance -But the sudden hope for playoffs this year is a very far fetched one because the only way to get into the playoffs without 10 or 11 wins is to win a bad division. Carolina has not lost yet so that’s not going to happen. Bucs will have to go 5-1 down the stretch to even have a chance at playoffs.
Possible? Yes – Likely? not at all. Just sayin.
Bucs will probably finish 8-8 just like I predicted at the beginning of the season and that is 4X the wins they had last year. Major progress if that is the end result – and we should all be encouraged by a greatly improved on-field product.
November 24th, 2015 at 8:18 pm
A loss this week and we go back to being the yucs. A 2 game winning streak wont give you much cred. Let’s keep it going. 3 and 4 wins in a row and taking over 2nd place would keep ppl talking.
November 24th, 2015 at 9:27 pm
Yes, it all started in Washington when this team was up 24-0. From the beginning moment, on the deep ball from Jameis Winston to Mike Evans for six, we knew we had something special. That game should have been a win but I it made this team grow. In the Giants game, which by the way the Eagles dominated them 27-7, it was all about missed opportunities in the red zone or that game would have been a W. Just to give some examples of how well the offense performed, last week PFO had the Eagles defense ranked 8th against the run and 3rd against the pass (2nd overall). Going up against a defense with Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks and Connor Barwin, the n dropping 45 on them is remarkable. The problem for us is that we are a better team on the road. That needs to change to being just as good at home.
November 24th, 2015 at 9:32 pm
I will post this here again just cause…
I feel a shut out coming for our D… This game very well could be the true turning point game… Last week was a statement game… Two on the road and 3 overall would be a turning point!!! The Colts beating us back in the day in spectacular come back fashion was the beganing of the end of our run… A turning point in the opposite direction….
So this would be poetic justice!!!
We need to go in to Indy and shut them out!!! A true turning point would be set in stone!!!
The way our D trended up towards the end of last year serves as an indication that they finish seasons strong… Which to me is what makes the possibility of us making a real playoff run this year for real!!!!
The BUCS are gonna play hard we can count on that… I think Hasselback is do for his first loss as his Luck is about to run out….
I’m gonna go with another 30 burger in yet another strong showing from the D with another score or TWO…
34-0 BUCS OVER THE COLTS!!,,
November 24th, 2015 at 11:03 pm
Yeah I remember everyone including Joe were bashing the Bucs when they lost to Redskins, and I said they showed improvement and even though we lost, Bucs played well. But now its all good again.
November 24th, 2015 at 11:34 pm
Joe’s always have the highest highs and the lowest lows.
I remember reading one of joe’s tweets, saying something like “Lovie Smith still can’t figure out that Oregon offense” (after the eagles scored their first TD) it was just an observation, but it showed what a cynic joe can be. He sees the bucs give up a TD and he immediately thinks the defense is in for a week 1 type game. This is the NFL. It is pretty rare for a team to not score a TD in a game. Going there in the first quarter of the game just shows me Joe is still a pessimist. He doesn’t trust the bucs to over come the odds.
November 25th, 2015 at 2:35 am
I think if we go 4-2… we should be in. The seahawks are the biggest threat we have to take the last wild card spot.
November 25th, 2015 at 5:38 am
BUC IT: 9-7 probably would get Tampa into a tie breaker; if its with Seattle then it could come down to conference record where the Bucs would be 7-5 if they beat Indy and lose 2 in conference. I really hope that DC meltdown does not bite them in the long run but no matter what if the Bucs win 8 or 9 then they would have exceeded my expectations by 3 or so games as I really thought that 6-10 would be a decent mark, especially after the 1-3 start as well as the DC loss….