“David And Goliath”
September 10th, 2018
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter reacts to Justin Evans’ scoop-and-score Sunday in New Orleans. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)
The Bucs shook the NFL world yesterday when, despite a horrific defensive effort, they hung 48 points on the defending NFC South champion New Orleans Saints for a season-opening win.
On the road no less!
Backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick went all Dan Fouts (including the beard). Chris Godwin went crazy. DeSean Jackson fried the Saints secondary so bad dudes had to be treated for third-degree burns. It was just beautiful.
In this ESPN report from Jenna Laine, a certain Bucs player told her the win was like David defeating Goliath.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:20 am
Great Offensive Show!!! Like always, more work to do, but I will take it! A win is a win, especially in the Division, and on the road, against the Saints is a big bonus!!!
September 10th, 2018 at 12:22 am
Can’t rely on the long ball to win every game but got dammit Fitz sure does throw a pretty ball when he goes deep. Right in stride. Man that was beautiful. I’m still not going to overlook McHips and the retreads. Straight garbage performance on D-Line.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:23 am
yes joe dan fouts….indeed! 🙂
September 10th, 2018 at 12:24 am
The defense will improve, and we won’t be facing this stupid good offense every week. Going to enjoy the win, and pray our defense is better than it looked as we get some people back. (Grimes, JPP healthy, Vea, Hargraves, etc.). Gotta be honest though, I haven’t seen our offense ever look that good!
September 10th, 2018 at 12:26 am
where was jpp and his repertoire of moves tho ???
#JuanPierrePaulWasLayinLow
September 10th, 2018 at 12:30 am
JPP got hurt on the second play of the game. Anyone notice B McDougal had two picks for Seattle today…
September 10th, 2018 at 12:38 am
What this game does, is allow players to believe in each other. It is proof positive they can play with the best. Knowledge they can gain stregnth and confidence with.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:46 am
Man the traffic on this site is insane today. Love it! What a big win does for our little community. GO BUCS!
September 10th, 2018 at 12:50 am
Let’s hope the W I had pencilled in all offseason for the Philly game comes true, because while dopes were writing off the Bears as being a sure fire W, I think they proved tonight they’re not – not to mention the Bucs being 5-21 all-time in Chicago, and being terrible at home against the Steelers. If the Bucs can win that Philly game then worse case they’re 2-2 with Jameis coming back after the bye and then the team can really go on a run.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:54 am
“First time poster…be nice”
“I bleed pewter”
Kobe Faker
September 10th, 2018 at 12:55 am
If you go back and watch the highlights, while Fitz was certainly making great throws and was extremely accurate, the Bucs WRs were also getting wide open for the most part. That’s a huge deal since if they can get open and the QB can get time and the Bucs aren’t ultra predictable, man, it’s exciting. What a difference having a real OC for the first time since 2015 makes.
September 10th, 2018 at 1:07 am
Watching and reading different things; our offensive line is hands down better than years past yet gets no praise. They created the plays and everyone else did their jobs getting open and running through it. Those guys were dogs today. Hopefully they sharpen the defensive lines iron.
September 10th, 2018 at 2:19 am
That’s not exactly what I want to hear. I hope this team doesn’t peak in week 1 with a victory over “Goliath”. The champs are coming to RJS next Sunday and we better be ready. Great, great win… But David and Goliath? I don’t think so. Go Bucs!!
September 10th, 2018 at 3:02 am
#Fitzmania
September 10th, 2018 at 3:55 am
Can’t wait to hear the reactions on 97.5 Philly sports talk radio this morning. Interesting matchup next week. The fleagles D is outstanding, but Foles is less than impressive. Curious to see if Wentz gets rushed back before he’s ready. The oddsmakers must be going nuts about now. GO BUCS
September 10th, 2018 at 4:49 am
Accuracy. Accuracy on the long ball we haven’t seen here in Tampa Bay since… well, never. Accuracy that America’s Grabber of Pooswah, Jameis Winston, can only fantasize about somehow having someday in the future when he grows up, perhaps.
Meanwhile, at least for one game America’s Quarterback, Mensa Meme Ryan Fitzpatrick was dropping rainbow dimes into the coffers of Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson, who collectively finished with 12 receptions on 12 targets (7 and 5) with 3 touchdowns.
Even Hillary revealed that while communing with the dead, Rose Kennedy told her that Ryan is the true “Honey Fitz.”
September 10th, 2018 at 5:53 am
Waiting at the rental return in Indy … been posting 1-0… not as a prediction but as the Only State of mind…. tried to follow on my phone…. must say from a distance so many posters here are poisoned with negative bias and after 10 years it is understandable but not acceptable
September 10th, 2018 at 5:57 am
There were many posters here who thought if our OL can just play decently we’re going to be OK on offense.
They played better than just decently and we exploded.
I’m still reserving judgement on our D. We are banged up and can hopefully get healthy. Our number one draft pick is out…our top defensive back is out…JPP left the game early and when he came back was still perhaps favoring the injury.
Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara are witches…future HOF and NFL offensive rookie of the year combined to show us our weaknesses.
My biggest disappointment was the LB’s…some big plays but very inconsistent…again though who in this league at LB is going to cover Kamara…we had to use DB’s just to hang with him.
Their offense played great…as usual…our defense was mediocre and banged up and they hung 40 on us…although again if we make the FG for a three possession game late that would have let the air out of the Saints balloon….fans would have headed to the exits. Our kicking game…not Catanazaro but our ST blocking put enormous pressure on our D in the 4th. Pressure that shouldn’t have been there.
September 10th, 2018 at 6:14 am
I watched the Chicago game and the recent addition of Khalil Mack gives them a top notch pass rush. Just like in NOLA we will have to score more points have to
score than they do.
One reason we won in NOLA is because the Bucs Offensive staff put together
a great game plan with effective deep passes thrown to spots where
our receivers had the best chance to catch them.
September 10th, 2018 at 6:28 am
Jason Licht has quietly build an offensive offense. Building a team takes patience and time. Remember this is a young team essentially and our defense is a walking wounded show. Our patchwork rotation d line actually did a nice job. They stopped the Saints run game essentially forcing them to be a pass only team. Props go to Brees for keeping them in the game. Allen, Curry, Jpp and Mccoy essentially made them abandon the run game. We were horrible against the run last year, just think what it will be like when we get our full strength d line back in play. this team could potentially be a force to be reckoned with. Get excited people, we are in for a fun season!
September 10th, 2018 at 6:32 am
Thinking back to various comments on JBF PRIOR to the game, it’s comical that so many were convinced that the Bucs would get blown out by the Saints. And to be sure, the ‘historical data’ supported that … Saints had a high-flying offense led by Drew Brees, their defense was quite good last year, they were playing at home, the Bucs were missing several key players (especially on defense), yada, yada.
And yet a funning thing happened on the way to the Superdome … historical data didn’t predict diddly. A back-up QB who many berated turned out to be a surgeon when given some decent weapons to work with. Our OLine held up & protected Fitz very nicely. Our defense struggled to defend against Brees’ short passing, BUT it made enough plays to keep us in there. Held the Saints to 43 yds rushing, forced 2 turnovers & scored 1 TD of their own. And oh ya, we got 3 rookie DBs their first trial-by-fire. LOTS to work on, but lots to build on also. Awesome way to start the season. Go Bucs!
September 10th, 2018 at 6:38 am
Jboo Who. Starting to look more like the JW Clown Show will be packing his clown car and headed to the CFL, where he belongs. Fitzy was spectacular
September 10th, 2018 at 6:50 am
Horrific defensive performance indeed!!! Mike Smith is GARBAGE!!! Except for 5 games in 2016 he has been roasted and roasted every week and don’t tell me he has done it with other teams because the past doesn’t count!
September 10th, 2018 at 6:58 am
We need add a new wrinkle to our running game. Somebody has to spell Barber so he doesn’t wear down late in games and during the season.
But I gotta say it was a perfect gameplan and execution by Fitzy. The Oline did a great job of protecting our QB.
September 10th, 2018 at 7:03 am
And folks, THAT is why they play the game!!!!
@stpete- There was some very poor LB play in that game. I saw a ton of missed tackles and bad angles. Hopefully they’ll get that cleaned up. We’re not going to beat Brees that often in a track meet.
Where are the “0-3” peeps?!
September 10th, 2018 at 7:48 am
Just came back and saw my post from earlier listed as “Anonymous.” No, I’m not the one who posted the Op-Ed piece to the New York Times. I guess I forgot to put my name in. Anyway, I am Anonymous. (Or is it I am Spartacus?)
September 10th, 2018 at 7:49 am
@defenesrules wow me and ur predictions were both wrong but together we were almost close but u are completely right everyone pop up on here even a Saints fan talking s$&@ but u wanna know something it’s not who dat it’s we dat we beat those saints I told all of u the Bucs are not a bad team and the d Got two turnovers also remember when we went 9-7 the defense started off shaky but got better at the end so and on offense my god if Mike Evans isn’t the second coming of randy moss he made latamore look reallly bad the could not cover him one on one same for Jax I’m speechless just go Bucs
September 10th, 2018 at 8:53 am
We’re are all the negative posters we had to deal with all summer picking us to get blown out. Guess you will only show your face after a lot or when Winston gets back.
No way we game the playoffs with Mike Smith as coordinator though he is the weak link, no excuses for that defense in year 3, it means what he’s doing simply doesn’t work but he doesn’t know how to do anything else there more winds we have like this the more the spotlight shines on him
September 10th, 2018 at 9:02 am
Was it T. O. Who said about Fitz long ball was the best out of all the QBs he received from, well, ME/D-Jax May sing that same tune when it is all said and done (but hopefully not since this is JWs team
September 10th, 2018 at 9:26 am
We are another RB away from being a VERY formidable offense. I’m not knocking Barber, but he went from hitting holes hard in the 1st half, to doing a little too much plodding and dancing in the second. Maybe that was due to the Benenoch/Smith switch too- not sure, but he is what he is- a serviceable grinder. Just imagine what this O would look like with a modern day Warrick Dunn (Kamara) to compliment him!
September 10th, 2018 at 9:30 am
Couldn’t be happier for FITZ, he sure looked great. Good leader, I love his poise and calmness and the way he keeps drives alive , not afraid to run and take what defense gives. Sure is a good day going to work.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:30 am
Barber ran well throughout the game. The Saints comeback attempt was nerve rattling to the finish. To come out with the win is just over the top fantastic. The Eagles will be tough, the Steelers not so much. Go Bucs!
September 10th, 2018 at 10:31 am
Now if the time. Trade JW along with a first and second round pick for LeVeon Bell. You can do this Jason. Don’t be scared.
September 10th, 2018 at 11:03 am
Godeep
I realize you are among the most virulent of the anti Jameis crowd along with Walter. I can understand those who are offended by the off field actions. But on the field JW has not given us a reason to trade him.
And if we are going to trade anybody Leveon Bell is the LAST guy I want to trade for. He’s a prima donna who is going to get HIS….that’s what counts. More power to him because he is talented enough to probably get HIS. He IS a great player. But that’s beside the point.
What hole is Bell going to fill? More explosiveness on offense? That is literally the last thing this team needs right now. We are incredibly explosive and as long as our OL plays like they did yesterday our offense is golden.
IF we are going to trade anybody it should be for a defensive stud. If we have holes they are ALL on defense with NONE on offense.
September 10th, 2018 at 11:14 am
We can go 3 – 0 after what I witnessed thos week in football. We can beat Foles and Pittsburgh looks vulnerable.