Bucs Get Impressive Grade
December 3rd, 2019
Joe walked out of the Gator Bowl Sunday night — that place changes names every two years it seems so it will always be the “Gator Bowl” to Joe — happy for a Bucs win that sure didn’t feel like a win.
The defense balled out. Most impressive defensive effort since opening day of 2017. Yeah the Jags stink. That’s what good defenses do to lesser offenses: Suffocate them. It was a beautiful thing to see.
But the Bucs offense, when it didn’t have a short field to work with, woof! Here was one of the best NFL offenses shut down by a rotten defense (though the front four of the Jags’ is impressive).
John Breech of CBS Sports waved off any concerns with the stagnant offense and graded the Bucs a “B+” for Sunday.
The Buccaneers defense took absolute control of this game, starting with Jacksonville’s opening possession and then basically suffocating the Jaguars for four straight quarters. Before the first quarter had even ended, the Bucs defense had already forced three turnovers and scored a touchdown. The score came after Shaq Barrett forced a Nick Foles fumble, which Devin White returned 14 yards for a touchdown. White also had one of Tampa’s two interceptions in this game. Overall, the Bucs forced four turnovers in this game. Offensively, the Bucs didn’t get much going, but they didn’t have to, since their defense was so dominant.
Joe sure would like to know why the offense suddenly decided to take the day off on Sunday, especially in the second half.
Damn, if the Bucs defense didn’t force four turnovers (one of which was housed by Devin White), that game would have been a nailbiter and maybe a loss.
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:07 am
Perhaps a little bit harsh. The defense played lights out and the offense still put up 28 points which was more than several NFL winning teams this past week. Arrow certainly pointing upwards.
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:13 am
The defense also contributed to those 28 points, but your point is well taken.
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:21 am
Amazing what happens when you don’t turn the ball over multiple times. D was swarmming! Maybe this #45 is a future stud after all?
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:26 am
Cant score 30 we every game, that’s unrealistic
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:30 am
Leave it to Joe to search for a negative in a positive.
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:38 am
Bucs won on the road by 17 pts, this ain’t college football, no style points for victory.
December 3rd, 2019 at 8:51 am
@elite where did you get that 28 points from?
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:11 am
That’s fair.
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:12 am
Defense look good against a very very bad team. A win is a win but right now we haven’t beaten many winners so it’s hard to be optimistic. Three in a row with a scrappy Colts team would be a big step.
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:15 am
Anyone who knows anything about NFL football watches for dominant Tampa Bay defenses. This one is starting to materialize. At least- half the team isn’t on IR. How many seasons have Buc fans suffered thru THAT?! Looking forward to the final 4 games, too. Go Bucs!!
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:19 am
So the bucs score tds on a 70 yard drive and a 83 yard drive after turnovers by the defense and that is considered short fields? No wonder this fan base is so blinded. Every turnover does not equate to short fields so this narrative that a defense cant get a 3 and out or stop the offense from going 70 yards for a td after a turnover is just ridiculous. The bucs defense gets no past for averaging giving up 32 pts a game.
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:19 am
It’s only a disappointment to Joe because JW had his streak broken.
This guy don’t care about wins. He cares about stats. Same guy likely wanting us to tank. And as for the Jags not being a good team, yet the Colts and the Texans and Titans have also picked up wins against them. This must be college huh Joe?
A win in the NFL is a win. What a loser mentality.
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:24 am
Typical Leftwich play calling. Get a nice lead and then go into turtle mode. Just hand the ball off, 2 yards and a cloud of dust. Burn the clock and hope JW doesn’t turn the ball over for a big spark by the other team. BTW, I hope Jameis balls out these next 4 games. If we go 7-1 the last half of the season, that’s massive growth for this young team and moving forward in to next year. Say what you want about JW, but this team needs the now veteran leadership Jameis is earning in that locker room
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:26 am
Nah, 7-1 won’t matter. Because the teams we play won’t be good enough to count as wins. Just ask Joe.
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:28 am
We’d have locked up the NFC South if we had just picked the DE Joe wanted.
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:05 am
All the crappy teams won this week Bengals, Redskins, Dolphins, and of course the Bucs. This is the time for hapless teams to shine when the season is over and there is no pressure to win.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:04 am
Because the offense didnt need too. They were still effiecient enough to keep their average points per game going. But they didnt have to force anything. It was rather refreshing to me. That first half reminded me of 02 was a good feeling.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:07 am
webster Says:
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:19 am
So the bucs score tds on a 70 yard drive and a 83 yard drive after turnovers by the defense and that is considered short fields?
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Exactly! It’s not like those were short fields from the turnovers. I don’t know J0e is so hellbent on this false narrative that the offense stunk on Sunday. Now in the 2nd half… sure they didn’t do much. But that is on the play callers, not the players.
We FINALLY had a complimentary game of football where offense and defense both played well.
Enjoy it, it doesn’t happen very often around here.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:16 am
Technically, Devin White plays defense and was on defense when he scored his points. The offense was only directly responsible for 21 points. That being said, Winston was on pace to throw for something like 450 yards or so based on his 200+ yards he had at half. I think it was 212 or so… the offense was fine in the first half, it was half number two that they went almost full turtle shell again.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:31 am
Not sure how this didn’t feel like a win. Defense was in control the entire game so the offense decided to play it close to the vest once the game was out of hand. If they had a decent running game, it would’ve truly been a blowout. This was not the Giants game. The game was really close most of the first half until the Bucs scored 13 in the last 4 minutes. The Giants felt like they were always in it. The Jax game was just different. If Dean wouldn’t have gotten hurt, this wouldn’t have even been interesting at all.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:34 am
i wonder if folks would complain if BA called plays and had a top10 offense with 2 1k WRs…..
GO BUCS!!!!!
December 3rd, 2019 at 1:06 pm
Complimentary football…Go Bucs!
December 3rd, 2019 at 1:52 pm
“Unlike the offense the defense has 2 work as a team and as 1
Both pass rush and coverage
all 3 levels working together as 1
its not magic or luck
you can see from the tape that there are no holes
the run defense has been tremendous the whole year with the def tackles getting alot of credit. what they forget is that to be great against the run, you need pursuit and sure tackling. this team gang tackles and all 3 levels run to the ball
12 games and we have hardly no Matadour red headed Kwonie miss tackling/gap assignments like last year”
Kobe Faker
December 3rd, 2019 at 2:38 pm
Leftwich played turtle and chose to run the clock. This is a great tactic on how to lose to better teams. We’ve seen it happen before #buccslife
December 3rd, 2019 at 4:27 pm
I traveled to that game Sunday, I must say for as little people that were there as far as jags fans they get loud. Even louder chanting for their backup to start over 88 million
December 3rd, 2019 at 7:50 pm
JAMEIS = SUCKS
December 3rd, 2019 at 9:48 pm
Ok, am I the only one that notices when most teams go into the half with a huge lead, normally play like Girl Scouts in the second half. If you go in up 17-20 points the coaches get to cute trying to run out the clock and being conservative. It happens to all teams except for the patriots. There is a dumb ass prevent philosophy that mandates the losing team takes momentum and stages a comeback. Cudos to the Bucs for not letting it get out of hand.