“Who Are These Guys?”
May 31st, 2018
Curious minds ask.
Which is the true Bucs team? That is essentially what is being asked.
In a video she posted on Twitter, ESPN’s Jenna Laine asks of the Bucs as they prepare for the 2018 season, “Who are these guys?”
What Laine gets down to in the video is how virtually ever Bucs fan was losing sleep in anticipation of the 2017 season. Hopes were high, fueled by a fun month of August where the Bucs appeared on “Hard Knocks.” The community was pumped for Bucs football once again after being left cold and numb from so much losing since Chucky was jettisoned in January 2009.
The Bucs, in Dirk Koetter’s first season, went 9-7 and narrowly missed a playoff berth. So fans were jacked when the Bucs added DeSean Jackson, O.J. Howard and Chris Godwin to the offense.
Instead, the Bucs fell on their faces. The defense was both disgusting and wretched, having coughed up at least four would-be wins. Jackson was a virtual no-show with one of his worst seasons. The kicking game was a continued joke, costing the Bucs at least one very visible nationally televised game against the Belicheats.
Then, the franchise, America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, went down with an injury.
It was the season from hell.
But Laine fairly asks in the video if the 2016 season was a fluke? Well, the Bucs went on a five-game winning streak after the bye week that put the team in position to make a run at a wild card. That winning streak was largely fueled by a revived, ravenous defense.
In retrospect, especially given how awful that Bucs defense was before the five-game win streak, and how terrible it was last season, calling that five-game win streak a fluke isn’t far off base.
Laine seems to hint this season could be a crossroads season for a lot of folks at One Buc Palace, including some players.
Today on NFL Live, my thoughts on the Bucs’ biggest storyline heading into 2018…(Don’t let the palm trees deceive you. It has not looked like this here the last few days). pic.twitter.com/dM1W13VFTZ
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) May 30, 2018
May 31st, 2018 at 12:31 am
Who are these guys? I’m wondering where Tampa Bay Florida is?
May 31st, 2018 at 12:34 am
🙂
May 31st, 2018 at 1:20 am
@ joe
Im not the poster the realist so i will not repost but i am on record on this site of saying hard knocks would be bad. I also questioned if this defense was the 5 game stretch or the other 11 games where they looked like the worst ie the raiders game. Not every fan fell for the smoke and mirrors. Thats why i dont have licht or even koetter on the hot seat. This team is still building
May 31st, 2018 at 1:24 am
I remember that Thursday night game against the falcons. I was in Vegas and sat down at the westgate to watch it. Boy was that embarrassing! Then the bye week and then the 5 game winning streak (I was there in SD to watch that game). To me, they over exceeded in those 5 games. This bucs team is mentally weak. All the way from the owners to the coaches to the players to the dudes cleaning the urinals! I have learned to dial back my offseason excitement this year and from here on forward. I have very little to no faith in this coaching staff 🙁 and say what you want about the horrid defense but that offense is just as bad, in my eyes. Too many games lost last year when the offense couldn’t muster up 22-25 points to get that win.
May 31st, 2018 at 1:53 am
You keep throwing up when Jameis got hurt like it got much worse afterwards or we startrd losing after his injury dude didn’t even play good football till the last few weeks!
May 31st, 2018 at 2:04 am
@ bucfan951
Many teams have won games without scoring 25 pts. The giants beat the 18 – 0 pats with only 17 pts. More games have been lost in the past 5 years by the bucs due to defense. The bucs were up 21 – 0 against seattle with glennon as qb and the bucs lost 27 – 24. Lets not talk about cousins and the redskins game. The bucs defense has giving up the booty on the regular. How many leads have the defense giving up in the last 3 minutes? The defense has to be better period.
May 31st, 2018 at 2:08 am
Topcoach
Jameis got hurt week 2 and he still had career highs in completion % ie 11 in the nfl, career high in qb rating, career high low ints. Jameis is the least of the bucs problem
May 31st, 2018 at 3:01 am
Jameis
3-10
Fitz
2-1
Yeah, Jameis getting hurt was the problem
Numbers dont lie. You are who they say you are.
Jameis is as talented as anyone in the league.
But if he continues making bad decisions with the Ball, his legacy will be of eating W’s.
The entire team sufferred from being stupid. Licht acknowledged that. He tried to field a smarter team this season. That should help.
But Jameis, as much as I love the kid- has got to play smarter.
If he does, the sky is the limit. Because this team finally has talent at all areas.
May 31st, 2018 at 6:19 am
@Joe … “calling that five-game win streak a fluke isn’t far off base.” Sorry Joe, but that’s disrespectful. During that ‘fluke’ period, the Bucs defense gave up a total of 64 points (less than 13 PPG), while our offense produced 113 points (22.6 PPG). They created 14 turnovers in those 5 games (to only 5 turnovers on the Bucs offense). And in that ‘fluke’ of a streak the Bucs handily won the time-of-possession battle in EVERY game, averaging just shy of 34 mins/game for us to only 26 mins/game for the bad guys.
A ‘fluke’ of a streak? Not hardly. How about a good T-E-A-M effort. An almost 3:1 turnover ratio is incredible. The Bucs offense actually performed below average in that string … in 3 of those wins they only scored a total of 49 pts (19 pts against the Chiefs; 14 pts against Seattle; 16 pts against the Saints). BUT … they didn’t turn the ball over (well, average of once/game in that ‘fluke’ streak), and they capitalized on many of the 14 turnovers created by the defense. And as much as anything, they did a good job of playing keep-away (34 mins/game TOP is excellent).
But if you write it enough times Joe, at least half of the JBFers will buy into the ‘fluke streak’ argument. Probably the same ones who buy into the ‘Yardage Allowed should define your defensive ranking’ argument, and ‘Bucs coaches can’t develop young corners’ argument.
May 31st, 2018 at 6:35 am
Thanks Defense Rules
For all the work you do to let the stats prove your case…..Like golf, or a batter in baseball or many other sports….teams & players go on runs both good and bad….they are most certainly not flukes when they happen….who knows, the team gets motivated for a while, then loses it.
After all is said and done….coaching and talent win the day and most of the games.
May 31st, 2018 at 7:00 am
Someone needs to change websters poopy diaper again cause he is whining.
Like a little baby , he is calling people names
Just don’t say anything negative about his man crush Jameis. Poor little Webster guessing he is a Seminole.
May 31st, 2018 at 7:20 am
@TBBF … “After all is said and done….coaching and talent win the day and most of the games.” Excellent TBBF, spot on.
May 31st, 2018 at 8:44 am
“Coaching and talent”, beautifully put!
We will win or lose as a TEAM. Everybody, EVERYBODY is accountable. We need to stop accepting excuses, that’s what LOSERS do! Expect wins and hold those responsible accountable! Enough already!
May 31st, 2018 at 9:04 am
Hard Knocks IS NOT what cost us last season. It was injuries, no bye week, no dwfensive line and a crappy kicker to start the season.
Anyone saying different is a revisionist.
May 31st, 2018 at 9:26 am
your a complete JOKE if you think that 5game streak wasn’t a fluke…..lol….its laughable…..they are more like the team that faced dallas than the team that faced the seahawks…..
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!….#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
May 31st, 2018 at 10:19 am
Bird
I have not called anyone a name on this thread until now. You are an idiot/butt hurt mariota lover.
May 31st, 2018 at 10:52 am
Many know my stance on NFL’s longest commercial/reality tv show that is hard knocks!!!!!! But you don’t to have to take my words as gospel!!!!! Last week on NFL sirus radio, Moving the chains host Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller laid out and piled on how they hate hard knocks and what a distraction it is!!!!!!! For those that say it does not hurt???? the question needs to be, how does it help???????????
The Truth can not be denied!!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!
May 31st, 2018 at 11:08 am
Every season is different, and the past is no predictor of the future, especially in a league with such parity. It all comes down to talent, playcalling, execution, making adjustments and health. The Bucs have the talent, but everything else is in question, so let’s hope they make the right play calls, that they execute on the field, they adjust according to their opponents strategies, and their key players stay healthy and productive.
May 31st, 2018 at 11:25 am
The streak wasn’t a fluke imo. It was what our defense / team could look like with a pass rush when everyone was healthy. It happened to be the time of the year when most the entire starting D-line was healthy and playing effectively – especially Ayers & McDonald. Even Gholston was having a better year and Spence was contributing consistently with pressure.
Those 2 weren’t the same in 2017 and the D-line in general was beat up extremely early. Not to mention our LBs and secondary.
2017 showed how thin our depth was on defense – especially at DE. We had a rookie MLB starting at DE at some point. I don’t think many teams can say that.
That thin beat up defense choked away 3-4 potential wins in addition to Folk sh1tting the bed vs the Pats. Otherwise we’re at 9-7 again even with a hurt QB.
And Lol @ any fool bringing up Fitzpatrick winning 2 games against 2 of the worst teams in the freaking league. Woopady f*cking do.
The only common opponent we played was Atlanta.
Fitz – 27/44 for 283 yards (pathetic yardage for 44 attempts) 0 TD 0 Int
Winston – 27/35 for 299 yards 3 TD 0 Int
lol.
May 31st, 2018 at 11:33 am
DR- after the 5 game win streak, Smitty resorted back to the earlier style of defense and we lost 2 crucial games. So to your point, not a fluke the way our defense played, just a fluke that Mike Smith actually got aggressive for 5 games. We won the last game of the year and missed the playoffs by a tie breaker, I believe. After week 17 of 2016, he has not been aggressive since and 5-11 later, he still has a job. Will he learn from the 5 game streak or will he continue to believe that “HIS” way will work no matter how many games he tries it and fails. This year hinges on Press Box himself, we have the horses this year.
May 31st, 2018 at 11:57 am
@jjbucfan
Those 6 turnovers in those 2 games did not help the defense either!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!
May 31st, 2018 at 1:03 pm
No Doubt but if you look against Dallas, of the 3 ints, all were on “deep” passes. One was to end the half, Hail Mary and one was with 35 seconds left in the game trailing by 6 trying to get into FG range with no TO left on 4th and 12. We gave up 3 FG in the 4th Quarter, we scored 0 points.
Defense gave up 26 against Dallas and 31 against NO- One of Jameis TOs led to a TD for NO. NO was 5-8 and we were 8-5 BTW
May 31st, 2018 at 5:13 pm
That 5 game win streak certainly elevated fans approval overall revealing a glimpse of life in an otherwise dismal recent past of woeful moaning at the results.