Too Slow, Too Undisciplined And Too Sabby
September 23rd, 2019
It was quite a brutal almost historic second half for the Buccaneers secondary, one that was supposed to be repaired.
It all started on the first offensive play of the third quarter.
The Bucs sent yet another fruitless blitz at Giants rookie QB Daniel Jones and Jones threw a 15-yard strike over the middle to Evan Engram at the Giants’ 40 yard line. He took it to the house after rookie safety Mike Edwards took a Sabby Piscitelli angle on him and completely whiffed.
Edwards didn’t stumble or slip, and he didn’t have to get around a block. He just missed. Vernon Hargreaves couldn’t shed a block to drive Engram inside and there went the big tight end down-the-sideline on a TD run.
A few minutes later, Giants WR Darius Slayton, not to be confused with Odell Beckham, Jr, easily beat Hargreaves and Edwards on a 46-yard bomb down the middle of the field. Slayton ran past Edwards like he wasn’t even there.
Another few minutes later, Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard not only took an illegal hands to the face from Hargreaves at the line of scrimmage, he recovered and beat him for a seven-yard touchdown grab on 3rd-and-goal. On the TV broadcast, Bucs legend Rondé Barber said Hargreaves put himself out of position by committing the penalty, also noting he jammed the receiver and missed.
After embarrassing special teams tackling attempt by rookie backup cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, the No. 39 overall pick, the Bucs were back on defense again. But this time the secondary held and forced a coverage sack that led to a punt.
After Shaq Barrett dominated a couple of series, it was time for the secondary to clamp down and hold a 31-25 lead against a rookie QB. But they got carved up in a hurry.
Todd Bowles went to a prevent defense that didn’t work, and then the trio of Jordan Whitehead, Vernon Hargreaves and M.J. Stewart botched a coverage on Sterling Shepard and combined to miss two tackles en route to a 36-yard gain to the Bucs’ 12 yard line.
Ballgame.
It was a troubling half on the heels of nickel corner Stewart looking slow chasing Jones on a touchdown run in the first half.
Joe fears there are a lot of growing pains ahead for the secondary against legitimately powerful offenses and experienced quarterbacks.
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:13 am
Until the Glazers sell the team…the Bucs are dead to me.
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:26 am
Good albeit painful recap of the 2nd half Ira, minus the missed FG of course. Credit the Giants though … they LEARNED from the 1st half & adjusted. Bucs didn’t … once again we came out flat after the break & didn’t make the plays we NEEDED to make as a TEAM to put our opponent away. THAT’S the inexcusable part to me.
We had a couple of rookies in our Secondary, SMB & Edwards, playing like, well, ROOKIES. BOTH have missed significant time due to various ailments & may not really be ready for the big-time yet after what we saw yesterday. But VHIII is no rookie, and he’s looking like … oh ya, VHIII. Still too slow & makes dumb mistakes. Same with MJ Stewart.
It’s fashionable to kick the kicker while he’s down (and no, we shouldn’t have kept a kicker we don’t trust to make the easy chip shots) but Matt Gay wasn’t the sole reason we lost yesterday. PLENTY of blame to go around on that one, especially in that horrific second half … offense, defense, special teams. And yes, coaching. The REAL test now will be to see IF the Bucs can recover from that abomination.
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:27 am
We were all fooled by the Carolina game, well now it’s evident that we didn’t win that game but instead Cam Newton blew it. At least the excitement did last for 10 days, now we are who everyone thought we were, basement dwellers, the browns of the south, buclife.
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:43 am
Getting ready for work, it already feels like I worked a 12 hr shift. This one hurt.
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:43 am
Once again our GM has no clue how to draft DB’s. It’s pathetic. We take a kid from a directional school who can’t even get on the field over too 4 conference CB’s.
Oh yeah, we’re the only franchise that can’t find a competent kicker either.
When is the draft again? Oh yeah, it doesn’t matter. We’ll draft more horrible DBs and another kicker. SMH
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:48 am
And this franchise and those kinds of losses is why I stopped caring whether the wins or lose.
My day isn’t ruined by a loss or made by a win.
This franchise has always broken my heart so I stopped caring. It’s been clear the Glazers don’t care about winning or losing so why should I?
I just watch the games and see how the Bucs will manage to screw it up this week. It’s laughable how they manage to screw things up.
@jimmyjack
So yea you’re right. I don’t care if they lose. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I sleep just fine either way.
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:51 am
Shouldn’t have been fooled by the Carolina game the corners looked bad there too but the safeties played well. Corners looked exactly like they did in preseason. They are a surprise no more so now they actually gave to play well. Vh3 and Davis are the slowest corners in the league and if they don’t jam they are a liability
September 23rd, 2019 at 5:52 am
I wonder how many Buc fans will be wearing Buc garb to work today?
My guess …a big fat zero
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:10 am
I was going to say that yesterday was Jason Licht’s “Tennessee ready” game but he was here for that and he drafted or signed those players too.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:11 am
It took the NFL quality O coordinators three weeks to figure out Bowles D that is tied to the personnel that he has at hand. Do keep in mind that the we had ten days to prepare for a team that has been blown out this year. Makes you wonder if we looked at any college tape on Daniel Jones, as he ran VERY WELL in college. He is a much superior athlete than they have him credit for.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:12 am
One more thing: “Gay ain’t straight”.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:13 am
Adjustments! They made them, we did NOT. The secondary got toasted and by above-average talent. Imagine when we see Julio!
We knew there would be growing pains. I just wish that the coaching staff would have recognized the match-ups and adjusted. There’s that word again!
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:19 am
I’m thinking SMB won’t make it in the NFL. A small school bust. He’s lost and timid.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:25 am
Same old Bucs
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:30 am
The thing that bothered me about the Carolina win is I saw alota open guys on Carolina just missed throws… this lost bothers me because they took the air out the ball in the red zone when we needed a TD
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:35 am
All I can say is Im really tired of this. Same old ship, year after year. Licht all the way down. So many things went wrong in the second half.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:38 am
Soooo the Bucs defense finally got their pass rusher. Apparently you still need a secondary who would’ve thought?
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:39 am
Pittsshore,
Do you have an opinion on a 52′ Sunseeker?
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:47 am
richbucs- I’m surprised that you focused on SMB. I think you could say the same for VHIII, Davis, Edwards, and Whitehead too this morning.
At least SMB’s a rookie.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:47 am
That game wore down my immune system, I feel sick. Lucky I didn’t have a heart attack yesterday. You just broke my heart, that’s all. Today I have to live with this embarrassing defeat. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a huge Bucs fan. The text I received last night were painful- (Wow! Bucs suck, you’re kicker is gay, wide right, he missssssssed it, what happened and those are the PG texts) Today is going to suck. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’m so mad!!!
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:48 am
Shaq Barrett…AIN’T …coming back next year IMO….he’ll take his game to a SB/PO team and I don’t blame him
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:09 am
Uh-oh!!!!!! The sheep are just starting to finally “realize” that they have been hoodwinked!!!! That they have been bamboozled!!!!!!!!!
That is not even the bad new yet!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the incredibly soft schedule they played this year!!!!!!!!!!!!! And after a few more games of the bucs getting exposed and manhandled, and the “realization” that this is another wasted year, They higher ups will tell the sheep that they have to roll the same way next year, because of the big contracts to ole stale biscuit and light weight!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Team is against the cap and cannot compete against average teams, and battles and looks sloppy against the worst teams!!!!!!!!!
Look for licht weight to overpay on an extension to shaq barrett, which means they will have to “save money” in other areas of the roster, then Barrett will be injured and never will be the same player afterwards!!!!!!!!!!
Some of the sheep, were saying to trust ole stale biscuit to evaluate the inaccurate qb manager!!!!!!!! Well The “real” fans do not!!!!!!!!!! Ole stale biscuit was brought in to make the inaccurate to look good!!!!!! The light weight GM, ole stale biscuit, and the inaccurate QB are all in this together and will do anything but evaluate each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its a pyramid scheme that the Glazer’s heavily invested in!!!!!!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:21 am
PREVENT DEFENSE NEVER WORKS
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:27 am
This game should change our GMs thinking on the value of Jalen Ramsey…Murphy Bunting looks completely lost out there and is of no use to this team right now. Stewart is slow. Dean has borrowed knees. Davis isn’t much to write home about either. Hargreaves gets some slack for one hell of a play last week, but his overall body of work is less than stellar.
With the exception of Evans, maybe Vea and a VERY SMALL handful of others, you call Jax, pony up a 1st and a player (and be grateful for it). The real issue is that our GM lacks the necessary objectivity to judge this roster dispassionately.
Yesterday wasn’t about growing pains. It was a complete and total collapse by a team that had extra time to prep for the Giants. A team that knocked Barkley out of the game. A team that was up 18 points. A team that STILL lacks the necessary foot-speed to track their #1 WR and TE.
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:34 am
There are 5 or 6 contenders, and we aren’t one of them. Nothing shocking there. The more interesting thing is how Bowles and Arians handle a meltdown, because they probably couldn’t believe what they were seeing at field level.
In the modern NFL though, this will happen. You have to keep scoring.
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:36 am
Get a new secondary coach and find some veteran DB’s that won’t blow coverages. Way too many easy catch and runs for Giants. They couldn’t run the ball for more than 2 yards and were always getting the ball downfield the entire second half. Bowles is going to have his work cut out. Cooper Kupp annd Brandon Cooks are fast, secondary will not be able to cover them downfield. Only way to play these guys is to jam and push them off their routes. I think Ronald Jones should start now and get more playing time than Barber. Jones he should be everydown feature back and Barber the relief and short yardage guy.
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:50 am
MJ Stewart should never be on the field, period. We already know he’s slow as fudge.
September 23rd, 2019 at 7:55 am
@D1. I actually looked at them but my Azimut has more sunshine space.
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:25 am
“I wonder how many Buc fans will be wearing Buc garb to work today?
My guess …a big fat zero”
How about them Rays?
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:28 am
Carved up by a rookie QB and JAG receivers. Lord have mercy on this team when they travel to LA to face a quality Rams receiving group 🙁
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:29 am
There was an entire quarter in the second half with no blitzing and soft coverage. They went into full blown prevent defense. Well, prevent is what they did. They prevented us getting a win. Surprisingly the playcalling was slightlyabove average although im not sure why a few plays that worked beatifully were not called again until they caught on but….the defnese and gay really let the team down in the end
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:37 am
Help is on the way….>Ryan Smith has only one more game of his suspension…
Don’t laugh…..he is better that much of what I saw yesterday.
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:42 am
Cam hits some wide open receivers we’d be 0-3. Is the coaching better? If it is the talent sure isn’t, our DB’s are all garbage led by first round bust VH111. To slow, to small. Who’s to blame for this dumpster fire? Jason Licht, the draft guru who just got a new contract for hiring Bruce Arians from the retirement home. We should’ve blown the whole thing up last year. The Glazers are the most clueless owners in football. How many more drafts are we going to let Licht blow out his arse? We have as many coaches as players, it doesn’t make a bit of a difference. We are doomed to fail. Don’t pay Jameis next year, move on. We’ll be drafting in the top five, high enough to find a real franchise QB in a deep class. Just don’t Licht be here making the pick, he already blew it picking Jamemiss. Don’t let BA the QB whisperer coach him, the game has passed the old man by. Take a wreaking ball to the whole thing.
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:44 am
Well at least Mike Smith ain’t the DC…
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:44 am
Could we trade VHIII, SMB, and definitely Carlton Davis for Jalen Ramsey?
That would still be a steal….
You know you suck when an OC tells a rookie to target you all day..Carlton Davis.
EA…actually there were many who were not fooled by Carolina..it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we can stop the run…but that’s about it.
Jameis played about as well as he’s ever going too, can’t put this one him. Special teams were horrible, and BA and BL letting their a$$ get all puckery at halftime is a joke.
The first half was about all you could get out of coaching, the second half shows you what happens when you have sub par talent and the coaching goes turtle…..
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:47 am
Gay ain’t Straight. Let’s pool our money together and get a billboard that depicts this great one liner. On another note Arians is one more bad call away from being out in an assisted living center. He damn near cost us the Panthers game with the double timeouts. That kick is good 5 yards closer. His team is starting to question him I guarantee it. Listen to Mike Evans post game interview…the team moral is sliding.
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:49 am
One play away from 0-3
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:49 am
3 points !!! In second half !!! Yea! it was all on the defense??? STOP making excuses . Dany Dimes out performed Jaymiss. What we witnessed was a NFL quarterback willing his team to victory. We haven’t seen that from a Buc QB in well…. never!
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:51 am
I purposefully avoided this until I slept and cooled off. I didn’t want to say something stupid because I was mad.
This was the most discouraging, disheartening, disgusting, dis-whatevering game I have seen at the den of depression. This team is heartless, gutless, spineless, leaderless, and almost brainless. Don’t tell me I’m being too harsh and over-reacting.
Why should I not be upset? Me and the Lovely Wife moved here in 2004 and all I have seen is lousy football. I have been told to be patient again and again. Well, the time for patience is over. We just lost two home games to very beatable teams. We made another green rookie QB look like a Pro Bowler. National laughing stock again.
There are no moral victories. There is no silver lining. Just more losses. More excuses. More stupid penalties. More blown coverages. More failure to make adjustments. I can only speak for myself, but the ownership of this team will not get one more dime of my money until they show me they are serious about putting a quality product on the field.
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:56 am
I guess only negative comments about the defense are aloud???
September 23rd, 2019 at 8:57 am
The opposite can be argued as well. Bucs are one or two plays from 3-0 and that’s the problem. Bucs beat themselves and it’s the same story we’ve watched over and over. No one that has watched this team for years was comfortable with that halftime lead.
September 23rd, 2019 at 9:23 am
Licht can’t do three things—-draft running backs, pick kickers, or draft defensive backs. Someone like Ozzie Newsome just had a WR blind spot, and that’s the difference between bad and great.
September 23rd, 2019 at 9:39 am
Thanks D-Rome, was thinking exactly the same thing. Two INTs & a blocked punt in that first game & the result MIGHT have been different. Tackle Daniel Jones on his 4th qtr, 4th-down run and we would’ve won that game. But those plays are what they are, and today we’re 1-2 not 3-0. “Bucs beat themselves” just like you said. For all the talk of changing the culture, it’s still just talk.
September 23rd, 2019 at 9:43 am
Oh and for all those peeing & moaning about how bad our DBs are, you might want to keep in mind that all but one playing yesterday are rookies or 2nd year guys (who are still learning a very different defensive scheme). They got burned a number of times yesterday because they weren’t nearly as aggressive as they were in Games 1 & 2. HOPEFULLY … lesson learned. Drop the hammer & don’t ever let up.
September 23rd, 2019 at 10:03 am
DR
Yeah, yeah…there young blah blah blah…..
Last week you were touting how great the D is.
Carlton Davis has sucked all year and VHIII continues to be what he is…
So with all due respect, our secondary made a rookie QB with minimal weapons look all pro.land he’s young too. Spare me.
September 23rd, 2019 at 10:15 am
Joe,
I think I can solve the Bucs kicking problem. Please here me out and ask the question to Licht.
Find a kicker that is at least 95% inside of 35 yards and has at least a three year NFL track record. Missed extra points and give me field goals are crushing this franchise. Any kicker that can‘t consistently hit the easy ones will turn into a basket case quick as the weight of expectations overwhelm him.
I don’t care and no-one else should care about his percentage on kicks longer than 35 yards because of what I mentioned above. We can simply go for it on 4th or play the field position game outside of 35 yard kicks.
This kicker will probably exist on the open market because he does not have a strong leg. This is precisely how we will target and sign said kicker.
Again, missing kicks inside of 35 yards is crushing the team and fan base and has done so the last decade. We are usually competitive early in the season, get soul crushed because of choking kicker like Matt Gay and the team collapses by mid October.
No longer. We need to fix it.
September 23rd, 2019 at 10:19 am
So VHG won 1 game and lost Sunday’s game…lol…
Kicker blew it…point blank period…
GO BUCS
September 23rd, 2019 at 10:34 am
Time for an ownership change. The clueless Glazer’s have to go, along with worthless Licht. Oh hell. This team needs a complete turnover, form top to bottom.
September 23rd, 2019 at 11:08 am
Kicker left points but he was 4/4 on the day before the final kick. Bucs didn’t show up in the second half and went away from Mike Evans. I think most of the blame goes to the coaching staff.
September 23rd, 2019 at 11:11 am
Based on what I have seen in the first 3 games and looking at the remaining schedule, I am calling it now, 3-13. Sorry guys, just being realistic here.
September 23rd, 2019 at 11:25 am
The beat goes on.
September 23rd, 2019 at 11:32 am
Had we made a stop at the start of the 3rd quarter, the Giants fans would have gone back to the bar or the parking lot. We allowed them back into their seats. They became louder than us. I came close to allowing the guys next to me to rent my D fence sign on our offensive snaps, since we weren’t doing anything…
September 23rd, 2019 at 12:24 pm
If you own the ugliest house on the block no one can make you sell it and move to a different neighborhood…..these people who keep saying we need new owners apparently dont understand the word OWNER. They can do what they want whether we like it or not this ain’t green bay
September 23rd, 2019 at 1:08 pm
This team will continue to be garbage as lingg as Jason Licht is still here. FIRE JASON LICHT TOMORROW AMD TAKE THE REST OF THIS COACHING STAFF WITH YOU. COMPLETELY PURGE THIS TEAM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. THEY CANT DRAFT WORTH A FUK.
September 23rd, 2019 at 1:40 pm
Dungy started out 1-8 with his new coaches and system and then went to the playoffs nearly every year…and yes, he had a couple of ugly blowouts the first season.
I felt sick after the game but have no choice but to be patient. At least Winston is looking like what we expected…..maybe.
September 23rd, 2019 at 2:21 pm
“You just got your asses whipped by a bunch of nerds…NERDS!!!
September 23rd, 2019 at 2:22 pm
^^BA locker room speech^^
September 23rd, 2019 at 2:38 pm
I’ve been waiting for this offense to finally play up to its potential for at least 2 years now. Gay should have made his kicks, but they shouldn’t have been necessary to start with. The score should have been more than 18 points over the Gag-men before the first half ended. How about at least 25-30? ME13, Ungodly and OJ were catching everything, and I’m listening to this mess on radio. What gives??????
September 23rd, 2019 at 2:48 pm
Defense Rules
Good thing we finally have a coaching staff that will throw down the hammer. And after that? Team ain’t happy. Assuming this team along with myself drooling for a win @Rams this week to put us back to 2-2.
Bucs: 24
Rams: 21
Gay boots a 50-yarder straight down the middle with four seconds left.
September 23rd, 2019 at 6:29 pm
Gay left 5 points(3 field goals) on the field in the first half. If those were made, we would be talking a lot different. I told my wife at the time, if these freaking 3 kicks come back to haunt us. And they freakin did.
September 24th, 2019 at 5:12 am
Pittsshore,
Thanks!
I like it. ….