“Full-On Crisis”
November 30th, 2020
Just a few weeks ago the Bucs looked like they were still in the race for the NFC South title, and a playoff berth seemed very likely.
Now? Joe’s about ready to jump off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Yes, there are two Joes at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters. One Joe is brimming with confidence the Bucs are all but in for a playoff berth. The birds are singing and the sun is shining. All is well.
The other Joe is in panic mode. Playoff teams don’t suddenly play like 4-12 teams in the month of November. Playoff teams don’t see their quarterback come physically unglued whether it is constant misfires on long passes or a newfound habit of throwing picks when trying to fight back in a game.
Playoff teams don’t give opponents three-score leads in the first quarter; playoff teams don’t come out with gameplans so poor (or so poorly executed) that opponents treat them worse than the Jets.
Playoff teams don’t allow a wide receiver to gain 200 yards receiving much less allow him to stand on the goal line, taunt defenders and then do a backflip into the end zone when a sorry defender finds the courage to go after him.
Playoff teams don’t look like they are coached by Lovie Smith.
Every example above is what the Bucs did yesterday and in other games the past month. And Joe’s good friend Mike Tanier of Pro Football Network believes Bucs fans have every right to freak out and start eating valium like M&Ms.
In the last month, the Buccaneers have gone from Super Bowl short-listers to the top of the Wild Card chase to the playoff bubble. And Brady is the team’s biggest problem: He threw five touchdowns and seven interceptions in those three losses, the Buccaneers passing game disappears for whole quarters at a time, and the best result on most of his wobbly deep throws is a possible pass interference penalty or a Breathing on Brady foul. (To be clear, both roughness calls against the Chiefs this week were legit and dumb). Brady is playing at a Kirk Cousins level, and the Bucs are getting Kirk Cousins-caliber results.
NFL Recap has been warning anyone who would listen since before the beginning of the season that the Buccaneers look like a 10-6 Wild Card team with the payroll and expectations of a prohibitive Super Bowl favorite. That’s never been more clear than it is right now.
With Antonio Brown (just two catches on Sunday) joining Evans, Rob Gronkowski, and a cast of thousands, it’s impossible to give Brady any more weapons. The Buccaneers defense has found its level against tougher opponents but is still rock solid when not faced with Hill in full Cheetah mode. The Bucs have maxed out as a team that consistently loses to the type of opponents they will be forced to face in the playoffs. They’re a Wild Card round disaster waiting to happen.
“This Joe” isn’t convinced the Bucs will sweep the Dixie Chicks. And “this Joe” would not lay cash on the Bucs to beat the Vikings.
And if the Bucs do circle the drain, which they have demonstrated this past month they are capable of doing, Tanier went so far as to type that park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, jet ski-losing, handshake-stiffing Bucs quarterback Tom Brady should save any further embarrassment to himself or tarnish his legacy and do the right thing by calling it a career.
Yes, the Bucs looked that bad in November.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:06 am
joe have one of your interns do a list of how many franchises have won playoff games building with OLD, WASHED up players and coaches!
How many championships did Lombardi win building with OLD WASHED UP PLAYERS and COACHES!!!!! Joe checked just for fun, the 1965 Packers had an older roster (average age) than this year’s Bucs. Nice try. –Joe
Was it bill walsh who started the trend of OLD IS BETTER???
Bucs are joke! They can’t develop players, they can’t pick free agents, they gamble on OLD bad character washed up players and expect to contend.
Bucs ownership is sad and pathetic.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:12 am
2008 the sequel? Bucs collapse and finish 9-7 with the only head coach to win a Super Bowl in Tampa. Glazers fire Gruden and GM. Will history repeat itself? Hope not. Go Bucs!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:12 am
Get a grip, man.
It’s a long season.
They played two better teams and lost. They had chances.
If they go 2-2, then they make the playoffs. Then, anything can happen.
Will November matter if they rebound and play well?
November 30th, 2020 at 9:14 am
When you’re playing catch-up picks are gonna happen. Our defense has been abused by every team we’ve faced since Vita went down, and teams have figured out how to beat them
November 30th, 2020 at 9:24 am
ModHairKen
Bucs do not deserve a post season spot! They will be ONE and DONE Dungy the Clown Style…
November 30th, 2020 at 9:27 am
1965 come on joe…. LOL you kill me old man!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:28 am
outside of whiskey anything over 50 for male and 30 for female is washed up and in decline!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:31 am
so joe was that lombardi team of geezers in 1965 holdovers or did he recruit the old guys…. big difference especially using average age. don’t forget the bucs teenage secondary drags their number down!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:32 am
Romo for head coach 2021!!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:33 am
@ tmac
Lol… You may want to check out recent photos of Elizabeth Hurley…
November 30th, 2020 at 9:34 am
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Here we go again Joe…
November 30th, 2020 at 9:36 am
The problem is third down conversations. We had 3 before the TD drive in the first half, there were:
3rd and 6
3rd and 3
3rd and 2
Brady missed a short pass on every one of those attempts. As a Pat fan (and a Buc STH) the lack of success on third down is stunning. What makes Brady the GOAT is his ability in precisely those situations.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:37 am
You keep using the words ‘playoff team’ but we haven’t been playing anyplace close to how playoff teams play. My expectation for ANY playoff team is that they’ll steadily improve the quality of their football play as the season progresses. This Bucs’ team is doing exactly the opposite: we’re regressing.
Granted we’ve had a couple of significant injuries lately (Vea & Marpet especially) but overall we’ve still got LOTS of quality starters that most playoff-bound teams would drool over. The only thing I can conclude is that this coaching staff has no clue how to harness that talent. I mean seriously, what OC wouldn’t love to have (1) a QB regarded as The GOAT; (2) receivers named Mike Evans, Godwin & Antonio Brown; (3) TEs named Gronk & Brate; (4) RBs like RoJo & Fournette; and (5) an OLine that’s quite solid to support all of those weapons. Am I missing something? Does it really take an offensive genius to get a group like that fused into a well-oiled machine?
The only reason I can think of for why Bruce Arians is keeping Brian Leftwich on as OC is that BA knows that he couldn’t do a better job. His attack schemes function very well against mediocre teams and always have. Against quality teams though with better offenses and/or defenses his offensive philosophy struggles.
Fact is we very well might have a losing record right now if it wasn’t for our defense. This defense has produced 20 turnovers in 12 games … and allowed us to win or tie the Turnover Battle in each of our wins. We lost the TO Battle in 3 of our games … and lost all 3 … and tied the TO Battle in our 2 other losses. No question in my mind that this defense misses Vea; our interior pass rush hasn’t looked any place close to the same since he went down. Without that pass rush, this defense is just average (could probably say the same for ANY NFL defense).
November 30th, 2020 at 9:38 am
marine
i saw those pics. you have a valid argument! The only other is Olivia Newton John has never aged but they are the minority!
You know Joe still has a Olvia Newton John Greese Poster in his high school trunk of memories.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:40 am
Tom Brady is the greatest … I hope he does the right thing and retire … if he goes one more season he’s going to ruin his legacy… Tampa was a good pick for him … this coach and offense is not made for him … he should have done more homework before coming here
November 30th, 2020 at 9:44 am
Imhere247
more proof that Tampa Bay is the NFL’s black HOLE!!!! No one can win with the Glazers calling the shots… Give the Glazers credit, the Glazers have to work tremendously hard to be this bad for so long!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:51 am
The self-loathing fan is not unique to this town.
Cleveland. Philly. Atlanta. LA. We all see it. We all see it.
There’s always someone who is a fan but simply cannot enjoy a less than perfect team. Or a less than perfect game.
Every year, there are 31 losers.
From 1976 to now, name a better QB season than Brady is having this year.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:58 am
ModHairKen
all that means NOTHING if you can’t compete in the post season….. the regular season is a joke. if you can’t win in the post season you are irrelevant. bucs have been irrelevant outside of Grudens’ glory year EVERY DAMN year…. those ONE and DONE Dungy years bucs were pretenders never contenders mentally weak post season choke artists. Raise your standards you either Win or you are a loser. Bucs are prolific losers of epic proportions the record books prove this. raise the standards stop accepting this crap and trying to justify it every year. hold the galzers feet to the fire until they get a football guy to run it. not some washed up has been or living in the failed past reject get a real solid YOUNG football guy and start over.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:59 am
Hotties from Joe’s high school days he was fond of:
Lynda Carter.
Cheryl Ladd.
Tanya Roberts.
Valerie Bertinelli.
Heather Locklear.
To quote Dan Dakich on the day Eddie Van Halen died, Eddie Van Halen went from stud to legend when he bagged Valerie Bertinelli.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:04 am
nice list joe but I wold have taken you for a Christy McNichol type of guy
November 30th, 2020 at 10:12 am
Butch? 🤷♂️
November 30th, 2020 at 10:18 am
just having a little fun with inclusion joe…. Oh then there was Kelly LeBroc
ModHairKen
also please tell me when having high expectations that are never met became self loathing. you are basically saying embrace failure and celebrity losing…. what a soft society we have become that we forgot that winning is all that matters and feelings are meaningless.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:21 am
Nice.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:59 am
Can’t even blame this collapse on JayMiss.
He’s safely eating W’s in NO while BA eats his hat on the sideline and feeds us BS in his press conferences.
Can a team that folded against the Saints, choked away a gimme against the Rams and were out coached by KC even stand a chance against the Wuhan virus?
This is NOT….I repeat NOT a playoff team. No way.
November 30th, 2020 at 11:03 am
Just curious-
How many playoff contenders are missing their 2017 and 2018 1st round picks due to injury?
November 30th, 2020 at 11:10 am
That last statement I expect Brady and Grinkowski to do at the end of the season no matter what
November 30th, 2020 at 11:15 am
Which Joe is it that’s obsessed with sacks and thinks they’re smarter than Belichick?
November 30th, 2020 at 11:59 am
Wee Willy, the only thing Jameis is eating in NO is the bench, beaten out by a trick-play specialist.
November 30th, 2020 at 2:39 pm
Here’s the thing: How would you feel if the Bucs were up 17-0 in the first quarter, but squeaked by with only a 27-24 win?
You could say a playoff team doesn’t do that either. Yet most would have the Chiefs as a high favorite to win another Super Bowl.
November 30th, 2020 at 3:24 pm
It’s so funny you would think this team is 2 and 9 with all the comments. With a pretty young secondary it’s not surprising to see lapses. It’s toms first year in tampa with new receivers new coaches and a new scheme is it really surprising during a offseason During a pandemic that they have chemeistry issues at times not really. Everyone that thought this was an automatic sb team ate too much of the hype. If we make the playoffs which I think we will we are moving in the right direction can anyone remember the last time we were in the playoffs? Go bucs
November 30th, 2020 at 3:43 pm
“This Joe” is clearly the smart one.
This team is one loss from circling the drain completely. A loss to Atlanta will be the final icing on the cake of misery that is the Bucs franchise.