Interesting
December 28th, 2020
Clicking.
If you read between the lines, one NFL.com observer found the obvious boring and what lurked behind the obvious interesting and scary to other teams.
Nick Shook of NFL.com was bored that the Lions had a hurt quarterback and half their coaching staff either had The Sickness or couldn’t coach because they were near someone with The Sickness.
However, what impressed Shook was Tom Brady now clicking with two key cogs in an explosive Bucs offense.
What’s more interesting is the comfort level between Brady and Gronkowski, his longtime pal who took some time to get his legs under him in his first season following his return from retirement. Brady dropped a perfect pass into Gronkowski’s bucket on Tampa Bay’s first scoring drive of the day for a 33-yard score, and while it was their only connection of the day (Blaine Gabbert hit Gronkowski for a score in the third quarter), it was encouraging because it was vintage Brady-to-Gronk. That type of connection can produce a key touchdown in a postseason game — something with which both Brady and Gronkowski are very familiar.
Also exciting: Brady’s perfectly placed dart to Antonio Brown in the back of the end zone. Brown is another who’s had to use game action to get comfortable again, which is an ongoing process, but having a receiver who was seen as the league’s best just two years ago as your No. 3 guy — one who is starting to fit in and rediscover his form — is tantalizing.
Of course, Shook took the national perspective that curb-stomping the worn out Lions didn’t make him respect the Bucs any more.
Wonder if Shook is going to downgrade his view of the Chiefs for escaping with a win against the very same team (Dixie Chicks) the Bucs took to the woodshed just a week ago?
December 28th, 2020 at 9:13 am
You can only play the team in front of you. If we can do that and continue executing, we will be just fine. We just need to take care of our own business. The rest will work itself out.
December 28th, 2020 at 9:15 am
It is all going to make Brady’s movie that much more dramatic having adversity from the media in addition to his opponents on the field. It wouldn’t surprise me if Tom had this whole season scripted to make a more exciting movie.
December 28th, 2020 at 9:15 am
It will be very difficult to keep Gronk with all the salary cap pressure….Licht will certainly earn his salary next year……We must keep Godwin & LVD at all costs….and, depending on our draft we need to try to keep Suh & Shaq……after that, Gronk.
December 28th, 2020 at 9:15 am
Amen, Steven007!!
December 28th, 2020 at 9:26 am
If they don’t give you respect you gotta take it.
Go Bucs!!!
December 28th, 2020 at 9:39 am
Did I read that last line right Joe? Bucs took the Dixie Chicks to the ‘woodshed’ just a week ago?
Bucs trailing 17-0 at the end of the half is taking the Falcons to the ‘woodshed’?
Or trailing 24-7 midway through the 3rd quarter or trailing 27-24 midway through the 4th qtr is taking them to the ‘woodshed’?
Oh I know, we took them to the ‘woodshed’ to win 31-27 when we scored a TD with barely 6 mins left in the game THEN forced them to punt after a 3-and-out and followed that with an out-on-downs when we held them on the 4th-and-out with under a minute left.
Yup, took them to the ‘woodshed’ …
December 28th, 2020 at 9:40 am
@ Steven007
Yes and no one really knows what can happen on any given day (Sunday). Bucs need to play their absolute best and concentrate on that. Let the rest unfold as it does. Go Bucs!!!
December 28th, 2020 at 9:41 am
I don’t care about respect from media hack haters, just win baby!!! Kick down the door !
December 28th, 2020 at 9:44 am
It’s the NFL for God’s sake. You play to score and win. The Bucs are gearing up for the playoffs. They didn’t set the schedule. As Steven07 said, you can only play the team in front of you. The Bucs did show a little respect in sitting Brady in the 2nd half. Can you imagine if Arians had wanted to break the all-time passing record for a game and kept Brady in the whole game?
December 28th, 2020 at 9:52 am
Not happy unless you’re btchng about something Defense.
December 28th, 2020 at 9:58 am
Defense rules would absolutely go bonkers as a Chiefs fan, since they have only won 3 games by more than a score. That is basically losing to him.
Only thing that counts is the score when the game is final, no points for pretty wins in the NFL, except as like the 5th playoff tiebreaker.
December 28th, 2020 at 10:12 am
Maybe just maybe they need to put the offense on the field first.Could it be when the defense puts them behind to begin with they think here we go again?
December 28th, 2020 at 10:37 am
I have to admit, the Dixie Chicks D-Fense looked real tough yesterday. I don’t think they roll over on the Bucs Sunday. And maybe that’s a good thing. All hands on deck!
December 28th, 2020 at 10:53 am
Crescendo. Peaking at the right time. The schedule had a tough patch. But now look at the Rams, heading the wrong way, the Chiefs, looking weaker than they should.
Sometimes, it’s getting momentum at the right time. Like when the Giants beat the Bucs in the Bucs last playoff game before Obama was President.
December 28th, 2020 at 11:21 am
Bojim … Apparently we don’t see winning in the same light Bojim. I spent a quarter century in a profession that demands top performance CONSISTENTLY; anything less was unacceptable, and oftentimes catastrophic. So yes, the final score is important, but HOW YOU WIN is also important because it demonstrates that CONSISTENCY.
CONSISTENCY on BOTH sides of the ball is a big part of winning IMO, and that’s what it takes to win Super Bowls from what I’ve seen. Some Bucs’ fans seem to be perfectly content with just making the playoffs, but quite frankly Bojim, I EXPECTED that. This team is too good to EXPECT anything less. I’m convinced that this Bucs’ team has the talent to win the Super Bowl IF it plays up to its’ potential like it did in the Lions’ game right from the git-go. Sorry if you consider that bitchin. Easy solution (for you); just don’t read any my comments and press on to the next one.
December 28th, 2020 at 12:33 pm
Defense,
I’m actually convinced this team DOESN’T have the potential to win the Super Bowl.
The only way we win the Super Bowl this year is to get lucky and catch some breaks. Our SECONDARY is absolutely terrible and why we have one of the worst secondaries. In a passing league, the odds are greatly against us no matter how well we do on Offense.
How quickly people seem to forget that Aaron Rodgers TORCHED US on two straight drives before we were lucky to get that pick six and start getting some pressure on and disrupt their offense. Rodgers was unstoppable early in that game picking us apart. Brees did the same and so did Mahomes.
The Bucs Defense is what will keep us from going anywhere this year unless we somehow come up with the perfect defensive game plan and get a bit lucky when we call certain plays.
December 28th, 2020 at 2:10 pm
BradyBucs … “The only way we win the Super Bowl this year is to get lucky and catch some breaks.”
I suspect the same could be said for most teams that ultimately win the Super Bowl. Remember 2016 when the Falcons lost to the Brady Pats 34-28 in OT? As I recall, the Falcons were leading 28-3 halfway through the 3rd qtr when things started to unravel. Falcons never scored again but surrendered 1 FG, 3 TDs plus a 2-pt conversion to tie the game then another TD in OT to lose it. I suspect that there was some ‘luck’ involved in that one … for the Patriots.
Same could probably be said to some degree of our 2002 SB victory. Any ‘luck’ involved that our opponents just happened to have been coached the previous year by our then coach, Jon Gruden? Bizarre coincidence maybe? IMO ‘luck’ plays a part in every game in one way or another, just in varying degrees.
Will it take some ‘luck’ for us to win this year’s Super Bowl? Probably. Can you imagine us having to face say the Giants, Washington or Cowboys in their stadiums, then say the Packers in ice-cold Green Bay, followed by the Saints in New Orleans just to get to the Super Bowl here? That’d be a tough row to hoe, and I’d welcome all the ‘luck’ that we could get.
December 28th, 2020 at 2:30 pm
And how many other teams beat this crappy lions team by a 40 point margin???
You gotta play your schedule.
December 28th, 2020 at 3:00 pm
I still don’t get why they’re not running more slants and crossing routes for AB – let the guy use his quickness to get yards instead of all those stick routes where you run 10 yards and turn around and get hit in the back. Those routes are great to run since it opens up the possiblity of faking the turn around and running deep past coverage, but it doesn’t need to be ran on nearly every play. They really never give Brady an outlet guy to dump the ball to – which I don’t understand as they can be a key part of the offense, so long as Brady doesn’t turn into Derrick Carr and dump it for 2 yards on every 3rd and 11.
December 28th, 2020 at 5:56 pm
Brown is flat out speedy, his hands are extraordinary. The Bucs havn’t even used him the way previous post mentioned. He needs to alternate with Godwin as the #2 receiver or at least get more targets than we’ve seen. The guy catches everything that comes within 2 or 3 feet of his hands. If someone misses a tackle, he’s got the speed to outrun the defense.
This is a great offense, make it a 3-headed monster with Evans as the lead dog but splitting the targets between Brown and Godwin. Godwin is so damn tough and a great route runner, he’s just not as quick as Brown nor as smooth a route runner.