10 Takeaways From The Desert Beating
September 18th, 2016
Veteran NFL scribe eye-RAH! Kaufman is Tampa Bay’s only Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, and he works right here for JoeBucsFan.com, five or six days per week. Enjoy Ira’s’ “10 Takeaways” feature after every Bucs game.
BY IRA KAUFMAN
The ineptitude of the Buccaneers on the field Sunday was matched by the incompetence of analyst Charles Davis in the broadcast booth.
In his summation, Davis had the audacity to suggest the Bucs would somehow benefit from the trouncing in the desert. I doubt he mentioned that bit of insight to Dirk Koetter after the game.
Here’s 10 takeaways to chew on when you’re done retching:
* Florida’s three NFL teams didn’t show up on the road in the opening halves of Sunday’s matchups. The Bucs were down 24-0 at Arizona, the Dolphins trailed 24-3 at New England and Jacksonville fell behind 21-0 at San Diego. Ain’t no sunshine when you’re gone.
* Most of Tampa Bay’s standouts in Atlanta went AWOL in Glendale. Jameis Winston wasn’t sharp, Lavonte David was invisible, Chris Conte struggled in coverage and Kwon Alexander missed too many tackles.
* Winston and Vincent Jackson have no chemistry at this point — and it’s becoming a major issue as teams tilt coverage toward Mike Evans. When the game was still competitive, Jackson was nowhere to be found.
* The final minutes of the opening half were a disaster, even after Arizona coach Bruce Arians inexplicably ordered up two passes on first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. On third down, an unpressured Carson Palmer found Malcolm Floyd at the back line for a 17-0 lead with 90 seconds left. Three Winston incompletions later, the Cardinals had the ball again … with only 25 seconds drained off the clock. That was more than enough time to add the touchdown pass that ended any suspense.
* What the heck was Koetter thinking, leaving Winston in until the bitter end? Mike Glennon, who didn’t take a single snap in 2015, needs the work, and the risk of losing Winston to a late injury far outweighed any potential rewards.
* New addition Jacquizz Rodgers paid immediate dividends with a 24-yard run, but Tampa Bay’s ground game went nowhere. Without Rodgers’ long scamper, the Bucs would have averaged 3.0 yards per carry.
* The Mike Evans-Patrick Peterson duel was intriguing, with both studs having their way at times. Evans made a terrific touchdown grab while shadowed by Peterson, but he caught only 6-of-17 passes sent his way. Given the steady decline of Darrelle Revis, Peterson ranks as the NFL’s premier corner — and he has a habit of tormenting the Bucs.
* Injuries to Doug Martin, Robert Ayers and Luke Stocker didn’t help the cause, but the Bucs simply were not in Arizona’s class. Despite taking 11 more snaps, Tampa Bay gained 110 fewer yards. The Bucs went 5-for-13 on third down against a defense that allowed New England to convert 10-of-16 on the money down in Week 1 — without Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski.
* Matt Ryan and Carson Palmer will never be considered among the league’s mobile quarterbacks, yet the Bucs have not done a good job moving them off their sweet spot. The pass rush, so impressive in the preseason, has yet to show up in a big way when the games count, If these guys can’t rattle Case Keenum in the home opener, then Mike Smith has a big problem on his hands.
* Starting off 1-1 after two road games is no cause for panic. The Cardinals are an elite team — the Rams are not. If Tampa Bay takes care of business and puts enough highlights on those enhanced video boards at Raymond James Stadium, today’s rout will be considered an aberration. Let’s see how the Bucs respond to their first bit of adversity under Koetter’s reign.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:17 pm
Very good way to look at everything Ira..thanks…and it’s not the end of the world indeed!!
September 18th, 2016 at 9:22 pm
1-1 sounds better than 40-7. There aren’t too many teams that absorb that kind of a beatdown. It’s hard to walk away from this game with anything other than concern that we’ll be rooting for a wildly inconsistent team this season.
Jason Licht did many good things in the offseason but failing to pick up another quality WR will be a problem this year.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:22 pm
Charles Davis was horrible… vjax is done. Time to move on. Father time 2 vjax zero thru 2 weeks
September 18th, 2016 at 9:22 pm
Winston’s QB rating was 39.2 today.
Arizona’s backup QB Drew Stanton’s QB rating was 39.6.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:31 pm
The defense is still too passive, we looked soft out there. When we played the Cardnals in 2013, the defense was way more aggressive even though we had guys like Daquan Bowers and Adrian Clayborn rushing the passer, we made Carson Palmer uncomfortable that game and forced him into 2 picks.
We have way more talent on this defense than we did with Greg Schianos but it was Shianos heavy zone blitz scheme that was being effective. Mike Smith has to call a better game and the players have to play better, we can’t expect to max cover everyplay, good NFL qbs will always find something open if they can just relax in the pocket. Defense is what keeps teams in ball games when the offense isn’t clicking, look at the Rams Seahawks game today 9 to 3, these types games happen every week in the NFL. The defense has got to be better.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:33 pm
Just and all around bad day…. Hopefully we play well next week
September 18th, 2016 at 9:35 pm
We lost to one of the top five teams in the league.
We will be fine. It sucks. It hurt, alot. But Famous Jameis will bounce back as will our awol linebackers.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Honestly, I was waiting to see which one of our defenders would have Jameis’ back, and step up… and absolutely zero dudes came through on defense. thats definitely not whats up.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:46 pm
Wait a minute…..yep just checked and the sky has not fallen!
Let’s see how the Bucs respond to their first bit of adversity under Koetter’s reign.
BINGO!!!!
September 18th, 2016 at 9:50 pm
Well stated by a pro like Ira. My tv set showed a team that looked completely unprepared for the Cardinals. Effort was certainly questionable. Winston’s overthrows are getting to become an issue.. Jackson doesn’t look like his head is into the game. His failure to look for Winston’s errant throw caused one of those interceptions. Evans didnt fight for the overthrow that Peterson picked. Perplexing performances from top players on the Bucs.
September 18th, 2016 at 9:53 pm
NewTampaChris the last 6 years we’ve been absorbing these kind of beat downs. Different players different coaching staffs same results. Sounds like we’re the Browns of the NFC South
September 18th, 2016 at 10:05 pm
David
Another from the quitter crowd eh. Yeah all is lost…we’re Tampa…it’s hopeless..why do you even bother?
September 18th, 2016 at 10:17 pm
All we know now is what our team is capable of. They are capable of winning, and capable of losing. Which one we see more remains to be seen. Go Bucs
September 18th, 2016 at 10:19 pm
StPete … LOL. You remind me of a kitten batting incessantly at a ball of yarn. Really hard to resist though when some insist the ship is sinking even before it gets out of the harbor.
September 18th, 2016 at 10:21 pm
We aren’t who I thought we were
September 18th, 2016 at 10:26 pm
Traveled across the US to play . We were not sharp. Palmer had all day to pass. Jameis and the boys will study the film and be ready for the rams. One game against a good team is not the end of the world.
September 18th, 2016 at 10:33 pm
1-1, still in first after playing 2 quality qbs. Let’s hope the D can nut up and stop a low tier QB at home
September 18th, 2016 at 10:36 pm
StPete trust me my friend I’m not one of the quitter group. The Bucs and all their fans were given a reality check that’s all but they play like that the rest of the season then the the proof is in the pudding. This coaching staff that everyone up here has been jumping for joy and chest bumping each over before the season even started got exposed. They had no answers to the Cards offense or defense.
September 18th, 2016 at 10:39 pm
Here it is in a nutshell..Jameis Winston stunk up the place. He was off. The O line gave him lotsa time. There was no pass rush as is evident by old man Palmer ordering firehouse subs, eating them while completing passes. Towards the end there 4th qtr, we..fell apart. Koetter should have taken Jameis out of the game instead of letting him take that severe beatdown. Bottom Line? Arizona showed us why they are a top 5 NFL team. They put an..Electric Spanking on our A..s And sent us home on a plane with injuries to boot.
NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!
September 18th, 2016 at 11:22 pm
We puppies
September 19th, 2016 at 12:06 am
The Bucs are still recovering from 13 years of terrible drafting, trading, and free agency; it’s going to take a very long time to change that course.
If you believe that Jason Licht’s regime was the turning point, this is only the 3rd season of recovery.
If you believe that Winston was the turning point, it’s only been 18 games.
The perennial NFL powerhouses were built over 5+ years of solid personnel management. Have some patience and enjoy the journey from worst to first. It just won’t be here for at least a couple of more seasons.
September 19th, 2016 at 12:19 am
I thought the problem was the passing game jw and receivers. 4 picks that’s all time awful. Hard to believe. Quit slinging the ball around if jw is off Koetter!!
September 19th, 2016 at 1:45 am
Nice!
September 19th, 2016 at 4:41 am
Don’t forget the Titans beat us 42-14 in the home opener last year. It’s not a given that we will, but it’s certainly possible to bounce back. Hopefully we end with a better record than 6-10 though.
September 19th, 2016 at 7:50 am
Well said Ira. We could bounce back as the season is early but it is almost impossible to win in this league when you give the opossing quarterback that kind of time in the pocket. We need some knockdowns next week..
September 19th, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Hey wheres my #3 bashing post?