Sluggish Start Unacceptable
August 19th, 2018
Joe took a lot of positives out of last night’s game, but Joe wants the preseason to be more about a culture change, a team change, than great individual performances.
Go back and watch that opening Bucs drive, did any of it look like a team collectively fired up and ready to play football?
It was an ugly 3-and-out capped by an excellent punt.
The Bucs defense held and was solid, and that was followed by the Bucs looking anemic in the red zone and kicking a field goal, and then the defense broke down with poor angling and tackles and allowed a big play, a screen pass to Taywan Taylor that went for 47 yards and a TD. Brent Grimes, Kwon Alexander and Justin Evans won’t like what they see in the film room.
Next drive?
Bucs get a short first down and then punt.
The first quarter ends and the Titans are up 7-3 and Marcus Mariota is done for the evening.
Joe loves the Bucs and that’s why Joe is nitpicking here after the Bucs roared to a big first-half after Jameis Winston got on the field. Slow starts to games have plagued Dirk Koetter teams and it simply cannot continue if the team hopes to have a winning record.
Somebody at One Buc has to figure out how to get the alarm clocks ringing before the opening whistle blows — consistently.
Maybe Jason Pierre-Paul should be interrogated to determine how he does it?
August 19th, 2018 at 6:16 am
Hmmm, hate to say it but Vegas might be right about Bucs record.
August 19th, 2018 at 6:30 am
Fitz is poop. Cant believe you guys were saying you want him over Winston. Then u say he went 2-1 as a starter. NEWSFLASH HE BEAT FINS AND JETS. Two of the worsr teams in the league last year! Guys truly have no idea what you are watching. Fitz is old and does not look sharp at all. Would rather Griffen start during Winstin suspension!
Winston is going to be a stud this year. Bank on it. We start 1-2 and finish 10-6!
#GoBucs
August 19th, 2018 at 6:52 am
Same old staff getting the same old results. I don’t want to hear that it’s just pre-season. The games may not count but they matter. What we see on the field matters.
Little confidence. That being said, by all appearances it looks like Jameis may have taken that next step. He has a different poise about him in the pocket.
August 19th, 2018 at 6:57 am
Bucs starting slow so often says more about the TEAM than it does about individual players. Are they being too cautious in their play selection? Don’t know. Does it take a couple of series for certain players to get psyched enough to perform at a high level? Not sure. Could be any number of things but one thing is certain: Koetter better figure it out fast (as in ‘Before we go to New Orleans’) or our season will be in jeopardy … along with his job. Points scored at the beginning of a game are just as valuable as points scored at the end. Bucs obviously can’t afford to waste entire quarters and still expect a winning season.
August 19th, 2018 at 7:03 am
Fitz was off on his passes last night no question. Jameis started with a bang which was impressive, and I hope it carries over into the regular season. Clearly the execution was lacking when Fitz was in. Some of the plays were open but
but Fitz” passes were off target. Some of that may have been due to defensive pressure.
August 19th, 2018 at 7:06 am
Pretty sure I saw MJ Stewart force 2 fumbles in this game. No slow start for that kid.
August 19th, 2018 at 7:07 am
Kwon over pursues A LOT and finds himself out of position to make a play. Not every play needs to be a TFL just stay in position ffs
August 19th, 2018 at 7:09 am
JPP sure looks ready to go.
And it looked to me like Grimes was initially in the best position to stop that Taylor screen/TD – but took the wrong angle and ran himself right out of the play.
Its pre-season and we’ve seen 2 good overall performances from our Bucs thus far in “exhibition” road games. And most importantly – 2 Wins!
Yea – the games don’t count but the morale boost of winning is important. It is acknowledgement that hard work by all involved is paying off.
The Dolphins and Titans are not nearly the talented teams that the Eagles and Steelers are – but we have 2 games and 2 team wins in 2018.
Early signs of 1st team capabilities on both sides of the ball are encouraging thus far I’d say. Fitz is not as talented a passer as Winston obviously – but I believe we can still compete well and win games with Fitz at QB.
Pretty happy with what I’ve seen from 1st team OLine – but One legit concern is it looks like Barber is the only effective RB we have as of now. ROJO’s “development” to this point has been disappointing from what we’ve seen in the 1st two games. Have yet to see him flash that speed…
Keep grinding men – Training Camp is almost over and the season opener is in 3 weeks. Lots of work still to do in order to be ready for that trip to New Orleans in 20 days.
August 19th, 2018 at 7:11 am
I missed the opening drive but the rest I saw from Fitz was great! Great control over the offense and there were almost no penalties when he was behind center. I think one was a hold by OJ (who also dropped a first and goal catch from Fitz)
August 19th, 2018 at 7:18 am
I am not sure the play selection was too cautious, We started off with more
passes on first down and if memory serves the first pass was deep. But in this
game it seemed like the Bucs were trying to copy the greatest show on turf
with the high percentage of passes and not much of a running game after Barber left the game.
August 19th, 2018 at 8:11 am
Fitz is garbage. I just hope he’s serviceable until Jameis comes back
August 19th, 2018 at 8:30 am
Joe: I am surprised you did not make a point about all of the penalties the Bucs has with their starters on the field. 100% contributed to poor coaching.
August 19th, 2018 at 9:17 am
That td to Taylor was just…disgusting. Poor Angle by LVD. Missed tackle by Kwon. Safeties just got manhandled by blockers. And the only dlinemen who recognized what was going on was JPP who was on the other side of the formation and had no chance to make a play. I rewatched that one play about 20 times just to see what the hell happened. Frankly I dont want that little punk Mariota smirking at our defense ever again. It makes me sick.
August 19th, 2018 at 9:22 am
Pickgrin
As usual agree with your post. I’m still a little worried about the OL’s run blocking but they did a good job of protecting our passers.
ROJO seems a bit snakebit so far. He had a decent run of about 8 yards wiped out by one of our numerous penalties. And the OL doesn’t seem to get any push for ROJO. He’s not supposed to run like Barber..he needs an opening for his game to flourish.
August 19th, 2018 at 10:31 am
We appear to have better depth than previous preseasons. Usually, once the first teamers were gone the opposing team would cram the ball down our throats.
August 19th, 2018 at 11:21 am
Fitz played like trash in that game playing and simple and I’ll say it since no one else in the media will. The defense was average. Stewart did have 2 fumbles but this is the problem with the fans and media, it was a great play but no one is stopping anyone from catching balls. Strip after a catch yes it’s great technique but it was still a catch, the one strip was irrelevant because the guy was near the sideline but people make it seem like that makes a great corner. I thought it was coverage skills.
August 19th, 2018 at 12:21 pm
The Bucs go as Fitz goes. I hope he has good/accurate days for the first three games of the regular season. Watching Fitz have an off-night was discouraging.
August 19th, 2018 at 10:06 pm
Hey, we have seen Jameis come out slow overthrowing passes many times in real games. Give Fitz a break! His first game he was on fire from the start!
He will handle the pressure in real games; he is a real veteran QB. The good news is now we know we have a third QB who can perform well if Fitz can’t cut it in the real season. Yes we have a lot better depth this preseason. That is because finally Licht worked hard at getting better talent for preseason. The beauty of that is you find some real good players that can play in the NFL such as Sergio Bailey II. I think Holcomb is a good Guard! And despite one holding penalty Brad Seaton did a good job at RT against first team DEs. And if we want to keep any of those players on our roster we can and some can make our practice squad in case we need them during the season.