Ira Kaufman’s 10 Takeaways From Bucs-Saints
October 6th, 2019
“The Sage” delivers his famous postgame column.
BY IRA KAUFMAN
JoeBucsFan.com columnist
Presented By
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No excuses.
The Bucs shouldn’t attribute this setback to officials, lousy as they can be, the raucous Superdome crowd or a couple of injured players.
This was a beatdown, even if the final score appears respectable. The effort was not, so Tampa Bay’s roller-coaster season marches on across the pond, where the suddenly resurgent Panthers await, eager to atone for a Week 2 setback in Charlotte.
The Bucs have suffered two losses in a 3-week span to backup quarterbacks. Daniel Jones looked like a rookie at home against the Vikings on Sunday, but he shredded the Bucs on the road. Teddy Bridgewater just pulled off a very impressive impersonation of Drew Brees.
When Brees returns, he will join a resourceful team that looks like the class of the NFC South. The Saints were too good for the Bucs on Sunday and it would come as no surprise if they are representing the NFC in the Super Bowl.
They earned this victory while the Bucs returned from the Big Easy knowing the road to the playoffs just got a lot more difficult. Here’s how they got rolled on Bourbon Street:
* After outmuscling the Rams in the trenches, the Bucs lacked physicality in the Superdome. Jameis Winston was sacked six times and hit on a dozen other occasions. He never looked comfortable while Bridgewater had time to order a mint julep from Pat O’Brien’s.
* Can somebody, anybody wearing Buc colors, get within arm’s length of Michael Thomas? Yes, he’s one of the league’s premier receivers, but this is getting absurd. Thomas caught 16 passes against Tampa Bay in last year’s opener, then added 11 receptions in the rematch at Tampa three months later. Sunday’s tally was 11 catches for 182 yards and two TDs. If this guy faced the Bucs every week, he’d knock Jerry Rice out of the record books.
* Shaq Barrett is no longer a surprise around this league, so it’s imperative Tampa Bay finds some support for its primary disruptor. The Saints treated Barrett to 600 pounds of double-teaming and nobody else stepped up. Bridgewater had way too much time. If and when JPP returns, it may be too late to address this one-man pass rush.
* The Bucs haven’t won a game since 2015 when allowing 6 or more sacks and Winston was under siege for much of the day. That said, he wasn’t sharp, he wasn’t poised and he looked jittery. At times, he seemed to react to pressure that wasn’t really there.
* The offensive line, a bullying unit at the Coliseum, was no match for a very talented front four. Winston was forced out of the pocket far too often and the run blocking was pedestrian as Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber made many of their yards on their own.
* The good news? Chris Godwin is emerging as a star. The bad news? The other targets have disappeared. Marcus Lattimore crawled inside Mike Evans’ helmet again and No. 13 departed without a catch. O.J. Howard’s score card read one reception for 10 yards and Cameron Brate was no factor. Godwin is becoming the Shaq Barrett of the offense … a young stud crying out for help.
* Let’s not let these officials off too easy. They didn’t lose the game for the Bucs, but they should be ashamed to open their paycheck envelopes. Yes, the Bucs recovered that fumbled punt return. And yes, Thomas pushed off against Vernon Hargreaves down the left sidelines.
* Once again, the Bucs did an effective job neutralizing a big-time running back. After Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley and Todd Gurley struggled to generate yards, Tampa Bay did a decent job on Alvin Kamara, who gained 104 yards on his 22 touches.
* Since the second half of the Giants game, this pass defense has been shredded. Bruce Arians joked that he’s OK with the Bucs giving up 40 points as long as they score 55. This isn’t funny anymore and Todd Bowles needs to stop the bleeding before London’s Calling. The ejection of Carlton Davis didn’t help, but this inexperienced secondary desperately needs a consistent pass rush. An 8-for-15 success rate for New Orleans on third down is Exhibit A.
* One step up, two steps back. Arians wants his guys to stack up wins, but that stack is looking a little thin. Loss, win, loss, win, loss is no formula for success. It’s a formula for a 7-9 season which would stretch the playoff drought to 12 years — The Dirty Dozen. Good movie, bad football.
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Watch the Bucs-Panthers game at 9:30 a.m. at Buffalo Wild Wings with Ira Kaufman at the South Tampa location, 4015 S. Dale Mabry Highway. ARRIVE EARLY! Ira will be there at 9 a.m. (Another full house enjoyed the game at Buffalo Wild Wings in Ybor City today.)
Ira’s Buffalo Wild Wings world tour. A taste of the scene in Ybor City for the Saints-Bucs game. The tour moves to South Tampa Buffalo Wild Wings on Sunday morning for the 9:30 a.m. England game.
Ira Kaufman will watch every road game at a different Buffalo Wild Wings this season. He’ll be there for special early opening at 9 a.m. Sunday in South Tampa for the Bucs-Panthers game in England.
October 6th, 2019 at 9:36 pm
7-9 at best but I see a 5-11. Inconsistent o line and a secondary that can’t stop anyone. Can’t wait for licht to use another second and third round picks on this secondary.
October 6th, 2019 at 9:43 pm
JW definitely looked off from the very first series… saved from a pick by his own line’s false start. The officials appear to be bending over backward to make amends to the Saints for last year’s non-call… don’t they know they can never make up for that? An ugly game for our Bucs from start to finish… but I still have last week to rewatch for a needed morale boost. On to London…
October 6th, 2019 at 9:44 pm
Fire 🔥LICHT website for a petition will be dropping soon. For now onlin as “TRASH LICHT”
October 6th, 2019 at 9:46 pm
Vh3 is garbage and tired of seeing him get picked on. Dean and smb can do this bad, Stewart and VH3 are the issue. BA knows it now if hes Going to continue to plays guys who wont produce ir says something about him. It can be ant worse letting the new guys play, can’t wait for dean to get back, never thought I’d miss Ryan Smith
October 6th, 2019 at 9:51 pm
ElBajito43 your at the right site to find dumb fans to join your cause. Yea makes sense to fire him on a new 5 year contract because this team cant Brady one of the best teams in the nfl like since Sean Payton got there. Ok buddy it’s brilliant pay him for 5 years and fire the guy BA wanted. great idea genius. Im sure all 5 people on your site will enjoy that pointless nonsense
October 6th, 2019 at 9:52 pm
Bucs got whipped in the trenches. Evans was a no-show and VH3 is ridiculously soft.
Beyond that, sure felt like the Bucs got outcoached by a country mile.
October 6th, 2019 at 9:57 pm
“Your GM is here to stay till 2024
4 more drafts with 3 corners each draft equals 12 more short and slow corners
We will have 37 cornerbacks within our 53 man roster
2024, our old timers like the Buc Realist will never know another GM”
Son of Kobe Faker
October 6th, 2019 at 10:05 pm
5-11 still sounds right.
October 6th, 2019 at 10:13 pm
Bucs also got outcoached all day.
October 6th, 2019 at 10:17 pm
What we learned is that the Bucs are not consistent.. No matter how the Rams game played out, it was a fluke… This Bucs team Is not competitive against playoff caliber teams..
I remain predicting 3-13 until they win more than 3… Highly doubt they win more than 6!
October 6th, 2019 at 10:20 pm
Hey, why aren’t you wearing any Buc gear on gameday?
October 6th, 2019 at 10:29 pm
Well said, Bucamania
October 6th, 2019 at 10:33 pm
I’ve stuck up for VH3 but today was absolutely horrible. If you look at 80% of the blown plays on defense, he was the one who blew it today.
They singled him out as a weakness.
October 6th, 2019 at 10:33 pm
You are what your record says you are. When all 16 are in the book, we’ll know what we are. If we’re 5-11, and draft high we could get one of the good QB’s coming out, and move on from Jameis. The money you’d save not paying Jameis, and getting a rookie on a 1st round deal would give you all kinds of money moving forward.
October 6th, 2019 at 10:34 pm
Thank you for breaking down the game.
The bottom line. Referees suck in the nfl. And why put the challenge option or New York review ? Stupid.
Bucs got rob. The game is about momentum. Bruce needs to bench players periods. I don’t under stand. If the QB plays bad he gets bench but other players don’t ?
I would of cut Dotson, Hargreaves and Licht long time ago.
How can you not trade a 2nd rounder for Clark or Ford ? How can you play all rookies in all secondary. Smh
October 6th, 2019 at 10:39 pm
Jean…..There are a lot of people who cover the Bucs that are not, never have been, and never will be fans of this team.
I don’t know who is and who isn’t so it is very difficult to trust any of them.
I do know one thing that there are Tampa fans out there pumping content and thanks to podcasts they are more accessible……Quite a few reporters(unofficial or not) I have followed you can easily identify as legit Tampa fans from the get go…………A lot of the others are very hard to detect……gotta kinda look for the signs.
Makes for a sad mediaarket really.
BTW Bass from T Times is a confirmed yankee who merely reports on the Bucs. I rarely read the paper no more but I’m betting he was a good reason why I never ever cared for the Trib.
October 6th, 2019 at 10:47 pm
“7 hours since end of the game
And no Buc Realist sighting?
Heard he had his own 1 man Mardi Gras in downtown Sebring”
Son of Kobe Faker
October 6th, 2019 at 10:50 pm
Yes Bonzai….Vernon was exceptionally bad today. What was with that MThomas TD on the left side line?
What in the absolute frig was Veron doing on that play never saw nothing like that in my life. He literally ran away from his receivers and towards nothing. Somebody please rewatch that play and please tell me it was like a play action or something…….or don’t cause there is just no excuse to do whatever he did on that play.
October 6th, 2019 at 10:58 pm
Hodad
Exactly. Bucs keep throwing good money after bad.
Some of these young QB’s coming out in the next draft will be stars in the NFL . Would be nice to have one and then have extra cash to plug some major holes in FA
October 6th, 2019 at 11:10 pm
Finally got to watch the full game and I know BA is supposed to be some kind of brilliant football mind but personally any scheme that requires a physically gifted great passing catching tight end to cover a teams best edge rusher is a completely stupid scheme. No wonder winston takes so many sacks, that’s just stupid
October 6th, 2019 at 11:22 pm
With all due respect Ira, Officials can deflate a young team and destroy their will. It’s happened to the Bucs game after game and year after year. When is enough too much? Only the Glazers can get off it and do something about it. The evidence is there. It’s all on film. At least 10 years worth. This team will bounce back. I’d love to see the coaches tape on this to see how much holding actually occurred by the Saints on both sides of the ball. Vea fought back against it and they immediately called him fo holding. It’s bad. It’s corrupt and those officials should all be fired.
October 6th, 2019 at 11:28 pm
Winston gets sacked and hit a lot because the O line doesn’t hold like so many other teams. The Bucs get called every time they hold and even when they don’t. Refs and the NFL hate Tampa. It’s no secret. If you want to keep Winston upright, you have to start holding some. It’s so glaringly obvious.
October 6th, 2019 at 11:28 pm
So I re-watched each pass attempt by the Bucs and you’d be hard pressed to prove that the QBs holds the ball too long.
In all cases except one you can’t get to 3 secs without the ball being thrown or the pressure arriving. All you see is 4 WRs with their backs turned to the QBs. Even the backs can’t release fast enough or get open or in some cases even catch the ball, but I digress. One play the clock got to 4 secs before the buc qb was sacked.
Also want to point out that the garbage-time TD by Godwin was completed 2 plays after he got hit in the head by Vonn Bell (helmet to helmet) and the fact that Godwin broke 5 tackles to get that “garbage-time” TD.
P.s.
Scotty Miller isn’t nfl fast bc Eli Apple outran him and Eli Apple gets burnt on a regular basis. Scotty must have looked good in practice against vh3 and people thought he could play on Sundays. But wtfdik
October 6th, 2019 at 11:36 pm
any scheme that requires a physically gifted great passing catching tight end to cover a teams best edge rusher is a completely stupid scheme. No wonder winston takes so many sacks, that’s just stupid
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Omfg somebody that’s knows football.
Making matters worse the RT is double teaming a nobody DT who hasn’t made a play since college. I would have the Bucs RT and TE double teaming the pro-bowl DE but wtfdik.
October 6th, 2019 at 11:59 pm
DB55 thank you for bringing up the Godwin hit to the head. Late and not called.
October 7th, 2019 at 12:28 am
JoeBucsSheep.com
Huge win against the Rams and we’re going to the playoffs!!! Lost to the Saints by 7 points in the Superdome and it’s FIRE LICHT! and we suck big time.
Patrick Peterson is a trade that needs to be made and I. Big,vet, multi pro bowler that knows Bowels secondary scheme like the back of his hand. The Bucs cannot get wins with VH3 as #1 CB. Jamel Dean injury hurts a lot. Peterson would be a key piece in playing on the field and teaching these VERY young DBs (all have potential because most haven’t even gotten out of their rookie contract). VH3 nickel or send him in the trade.
October 7th, 2019 at 12:49 am
BigMacAttack
“Refs and the NFL hate Tampa.”
That could all change with awesome new jerseys and a great rookie QB with a good season. Not a Jameis hater but the NFL doesn’t like multi-sexual assault charges as QB of one of the worst teams in the past 15 years. Flat out, Jameis will never have the consistency to take us to the promise land.
October 7th, 2019 at 1:43 am
Ira-
All good points, but I don’t think you are emphasizing enough the fact that MEvans was a zero factor while his counterpart, M Thomas was fabulous.
Whether it was coverage, Evans lack of effort or coaching, you cannot have your no 1 receiver taken out of the game like that.
Bucs have a rookie free safety and their best corner was kicked out in 1st half-
You have to score points against Saints.
After that 1st Buc drive in 2nd half, which was great, Payton dialed up the DLine pressure on Jameis and Bucs had no answer.
This team has to score points to win and if MEvans doesn’t show up, Bucs are in trouble.
October 7th, 2019 at 2:43 am
Still a lot of ball to be played were not out of the hunt.
October 7th, 2019 at 3:11 am
evans played like he drank his azz off on bourbon street the night before the game…
these things happen in nawleans
October 7th, 2019 at 3:12 am
Our Bucs are an up-and-down football team, and Jameis has been an up-and-down QB. Since Chucky got relieved of his duties after the 2008 season, Bucs have now played 170 regular season games. They’ve won 57 of those 170 games … almost exactly 1 out of every 3 games. Their longest winning streaks?
o 5-games … ONCE – in 2016.
o 4-games … ONCE – in 2012.
o 3-games … TWICE – in 2011 & 2013
o 2-games … 10 TIMES – in 2009, 2010 (4 times), 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 (twice).
o 1-game … 22 TIMES
So in 10 & a third seasons, odds on our Bucs stringing together 3-wins or more are incredibly low (close to non-existent?). Heck, odds of them even putting together a 2-win ‘streak’ are really low (on average, ONCE a season). Sad, very very sad. But reality nonetheless.
The BIG QUESTION is ‘Why?’ Maybe another way to ask that same question is “Why have we been so consistently INCONSISTENT?’ Every Bucs’ fan will come up with a different answer I’m sure, but mine is … ‘We’ve been CONSTANTLY REBUILDING since after the 2008 season’. Coaching staffs have changed every 2-3 years, and our coaching staff (until the present one IMO) weren’t exactly top-tier. Drafts have been hit-and-miss, but many potentially ‘adequate’ players haven’t been properly developed here because of coaching staff turmoil. Very few got 2nd contracts with the Bucs, and we’ve had to bring in lots of free agents as a result to fill the holes.
But more than anything IMO, Bucs have lacked the quality FIELD LEADERSHIP that we had back in our ‘glory years’ (oh how short they were) when Brooks, Sapp, Lynch, etc roamed the field. IMO, developing FIELD LEADERSHIP takes TIME, because it’s based on RESPECT, and respect has to be EARNED. We’ve got a very good coaching staff now IMO, and some very good young talent (and yes, we need more). But the FIELD LEADERS will rise up … over time. Until then, welcome to roller coaster city.
October 7th, 2019 at 6:46 am
On a road trip so had to listen to Deckerhoff. Kind of glad I didn’t watch it!
Week in week out, VHIII is outmatched. It was a matter of time before a legit star WR helped cement this. Is there any question in anyone’s mind about VHIII being an outside DB?!
The secondary is clearly our weakness right now but it sounds like most of the team stayed on the bus, including the play-caller! How many times do we have to see JW get sacked before we call a play that uses shorter routes? Screens? Slants?
I have never proclaimed to know everything about anything, but I can tell you that short-passing will help mitigate a pass-rush. But, as DB55 so eloquently states, WTFDIK?!
SOS- The secondary needs help!!!
October 7th, 2019 at 7:37 am
Bucsfanman,
Why do you think shorter routes as you suggest haven’t been called? If you see it so clearly , why do you suppose a coach with an impeccable resume and another who has played the position at this level would not see what you do?
You’ve got an ideas?
October 7th, 2019 at 8:10 am
the thing i’ve noticed is, when the pass rush as a whole doesnt show up, either will the DB’s…..
whitehead hits hard but he got burnt in coverage more times than once…..
VHG had 7points scored on him but yeah all 31 were his fault….
GO BUCS!!!!!!
October 7th, 2019 at 9:35 am
Defense Rules Says:
October 7th, 2019 at 3:12 am
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The BIG QUESTION is ‘Why?’ Maybe another way to ask that same question is “Why have we been so consistently INCONSISTENT?’ Every Bucs’ fan will come up with a different answer I’m sure, but mine is … ‘We’ve been CONSTANTLY REBUILDING since after the 2008 season’. Coaching staffs have changed every 2-3 years, and our coaching staff (until the present one IMO) weren’t exactly top-tier. Drafts have been hit-and-miss, but many potentially ‘adequate’ players haven’t been properly developed here because of coaching staff turmoil. Very few got 2nd contracts with the Bucs, and we’ve had to bring in lots of free agents as a result to fill the holes.
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WEll, well, well, you can not win games when you are constantly changing head coaching regimes. That’s why we are losing games. We have talented young players. Licht knows what he’s doing. But the coaching instability has got to stop. How long has whole Payton been with the Saints? Riviera with the Panthers? Those teams have coaching stability, When are the Bucs going to have it? WHEN?????????????
October 7th, 2019 at 10:42 am
The way I see it the Saints would have knocked off every team in the league with that level and style of play.
October 7th, 2019 at 10:47 am
D1- I didn’t see the game but there were opportunities that Jameis missed, according to Dave Moore.
Historically, this team acts like it’s allergic to screens and short passing. In listening to the broadcast, it sounded like JW was holding on to the ball waiting for WRs to come open downfield.
If I were to suggest anything, it would be to emulate the short crossing patterns and drag routes utilized by the Patriots, along with way more screens.
I don’t know more than Leftwich or Arians or probably a lot of people here. From what I observe/hear, we would benefit from having some shorter routes when facing a pass-rush.
October 7th, 2019 at 10:50 am
D1- Just to add to that, it’s exactly what I heard the Saints were doing to us. Moore described WRs being untouched on crossing routes coming open early and often.
If it works for them, shouldn’t it work for us?
As an aside, by all accounts, the Saints defense was nasty yesterday!
October 7th, 2019 at 11:46 am
Who’s the big guy next to Ira wearing the Mike Evans jersey and CAN he play RT for us?
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Bucsfanman,
Crossing routes require lots of time to develop. A QB must have plenty of time to throw… so, No, we probably can’t run crossing routes with great regularity.
October 7th, 2019 at 12:38 pm
Brandon- The 5yd cross comes to mind with that. Edelman makes a living off of those throws. And, you may be right but it certainly is shorter than what we’re doing downfield.