Bucs Could Be Better
September 13th, 2021
Brady.
It’s hard to believe the Bucs, the defending Super Bowl champions, could be better this year.
Who heard of a Super Bowl champion improving?
Well, Jenna Laine of ESPN thinks that is possible. And she’s not wrong. Looking back at how the Bucs’ offense shredded the Cowboys, Laine thinks that could be a sign the Bucs might just be a better team than last season.
Unlike Super Bowl LV, in which the Buccaneers’ defense kept the Chiefs out of the end zone, the Bucs’ offense had to carry them this time. Quarterback Tom Brady threw for 379 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions, and the defense surrendered 403 passing yards and three touchdowns to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Had it not been for two missed field goal attempts by the Cowboys’ Greg Zuerlein, the Bucs would have been doomed by four turnovers. Still, the offense looks more improved than it did at the beginning of last season, suggesting that yes, they really can be better than their title-run season.
She’s right. The offense is far better than when the Bucs opened the season in New Orleans last year. There are several reasons for that but the biggest is, of course, Bucs quarterback Tom Brady has settled in with his teammates.
Knowing the Bucs scored 31 points (again) and still left points on the field is very comforting to Joe.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:29 am
I hope we improved. Based on some of the football I witnessed yesterday, the NFC is going to have some pretty good teams. It looks like the Saints are not going to be a pushover simply because Brees has retired and Winston is starting. 49ers, Rams, and Cardinals all looked very good too. Thankfully, they’re all in the same division. They’ll beat each other up (along with Seattle). At least we play Atlanta twice and the Jets.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:32 am
i think rocking the white unis 12 times out of 17 is slightly overboard…
granted, 10 will be with pewter pants – which is the really nice look…
the 2 white on white “fantasy island” unis is understandable with the early season heat…
however we should have had 8 white with pewter pants, and added 1 more red jersey, and 1 more all pewter game – and everything would be hunky dory…
and to stay on topic – yes the bucs “should” be better this year…
but like i said before – it doesn’t get real until the first loss – until then, the superbowl magic carpet ride continues…
#ItDoesntGetRealUntilTheFirstLoss
September 13th, 2021 at 5:34 am
@OrlandoBucFan
the entire nfc west is no joke…that division is stacked up with talent
September 13th, 2021 at 5:36 am
Turnovers can always happen but the one I really didn’t like was Goodwin’s fumble. He also got drilled in the preseason trying to extend a play after getting a first down. There has to be more awareness particularly after the first down is secured. The Hail Mary at the end of the half I have no problem with.
September 13th, 2021 at 5:50 am
Still wonder where the running attack is! Is it the play calling or blocking that stinks?
September 13th, 2021 at 6:03 am
The offense is expectedly good. The defense…that’s another story. The DBs were a sieve and I don’t see that changing unless there is a savage pass rush. There were some good looking teams yesterday that sent chills up my spine. In no way is this season the cake walk locals think it will be.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:17 am
“Knowing the Bucs scored 31 points (again) and still left points on the field is very comforting to Joe.”
Still left points on the field? Well, I guess you could look at an offense that commits FOUR turnovers as leaving ‘points on the field’. But surely that’s not how our defense looked at it. To them it was a damned big hole that THEY had to climb out of.
The first 2 TOs resulted in very short fields & we coughed up 9 total points in a very short period of time (tad more than 2 minutes). Two rapid giveaways on the FIRST play of drives meant that our defense never even caught their breath in-between those TOs. Take those away and our defense gave up 20 points, which wouldn’t be all that bad against a very good Dallas offense IMO.
Where our offense did shine was in Brady’s deep passes. He threw 11 deep passes on the night; 7 were complete, 3 were incomplete & 1 was intercepted (a Hail Mary at end of 1st half, no big deal). Those 7 deep completions accounted for 175 yards, nearly half of Brady’s 379 passing yards. Those deep completions were HUGE.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:33 am
Overall The special teams were the best unit on the field.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:44 am
Something I’ve been guilty of many times in the past…and I believe others are as well…is Week One Overreactions. Dallas’s offensive game plan was excellent…caught Bowles and the defense a bit flat footed. Aaron Rodgers may be doomed in a lame duck season but will bounce back and we’ve seen Winny have big games before and say some awfully weird stuff. Looking forward to Week 2…
September 13th, 2021 at 6:56 am
The Defense did not look improved. The pass rush was nonexistent for most of the night. The DBs were social distancing. Even Devin White missed a key tackle that gave the Cowboys 5 extra yards on the final FG.
Are the Cowboys just that good? Well, we will soon see.
September 13th, 2021 at 7:00 am
Every Buc that played last Thursday night is still sore from the rust beinh knocked off !
IMO it will take 2-4 more games before consistency kicks in , plenty of examples of rust yesterday
September 13th, 2021 at 7:09 am
We need to see more than one game to determine how good the NFC is…..and that includes the Saints.
They did look very good as did Winston….he was helped by a great running game….early lead and good game plan for him….short safe passes.
Packers looked awful.
September 13th, 2021 at 7:21 am
I was going to disagree with “the Bucs offense just might be better”. My first thought was how we were playing at the end of last season. We are not better than that, yet.
But you are right, the Bucs Offense is much better than our first game vs the Saints last season. And I think it would be fair to say even the D played better than a year ago.
That twisted logic plays well in my head, lol.
September 13th, 2021 at 7:21 am
Do y’all realize that we’re starting just like last year? The DBs are scared of the receivers. Here’s a good analogy. Todd B’s approach to correcting the pass defense reminds me of the POTUS and Joey ignoring the border hoping someone will fix it for them. Last year it took about 9 games for the passing defense to FIX ITSELF. You gotta learn something after watching the NFL for 6 decades hahahaha
September 13th, 2021 at 7:34 am
Of course she’s right she only states the obvious. No offense she just doesn’t know the game as much as most
September 13th, 2021 at 7:52 am
Not worried about the offense but am concerned about the defense. Cowboys kept our pass rush pretty well blocked the entire game. And our dbs looked relatively poor in pass coverage. If the Dallas kicker had just an average day we would have lost.
September 13th, 2021 at 8:00 am
Just win baby
September 13th, 2021 at 8:36 am
The bottom line is this, we have an average secondary that a stellar pass rush keeps in business. But, if you can stop our pass rush, we are beatable, as the Cowboys demonstrated to the rest of the NFL. As the poster above me pointed out, if the Dallas kicker just had an average day, they would have beat us!
September 13th, 2021 at 8:46 am
Did she watch the same game? I was there and the offense had some good plays but was extremely sloppy. Seemed like everyone was out of sync. Our D line could not place enough pressure on Dak Prescott and our secondary looked uglier than my prom date.
If the Cowboys have better clock management on their final drive, Bucs lose that game.
September 13th, 2021 at 8:48 am
Hope that game reminded the team that winning the Super Bowl means you get every opponent’s best effort and that simply showing up doesn’t give you a win.
September 13th, 2021 at 9:22 am
Throw week one out the window, no one is as good as we believe they can be in week one. Last year colts lost to the Jaguars week one and Rams also barely beat the cowboys week one. Not very often will you beat good teams throwing for 150 yards. Bucs will be fine, they won’t be that careless consistently or that bad on defense
September 13th, 2021 at 9:59 am
Plain and simple. The defense could not get to Dak. The secondary got roasted again. And don’t try to tell me with SMB they would have been any better. They get juked out of their cleats and run right past. There was no excuse. Now we will see if the other teams try the same game plan and the defense finds a solution.
September 13th, 2021 at 10:38 am
First game of the season is always a shot in the dark.
Things will progress more quickly this season and the rest of the team should catch up to Brady by the third or fourth game.
Until them Brady will win by sheer force of will. The TO’s were not really his fault, so he has nothing to do, but keep doing.
It might not be a good idea to hit top gear too soon, but a couple of other receivers getting their wheels would be nice, so would a run game.
The O-line will be fine, maybe even good enough to sweep the Saints.
The D-line needs a delayed blitz to keep QBs from stepping up in the pocket. That was Zeke’s biggest asset in that game, he held those blitzers up long enough for Prescott to work that lateral passing game.
September 13th, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Even in our sloppy play, we were able to move the ball relatively well. I think it goes without saying that if we remove the TOs, it’s a much different game.
I am interested in why, outside of Rojo’s fumble, did we abandon the run. It looked to me like we were gashing them to that point.
September 13th, 2021 at 12:24 pm
I think the hail mary cold of been performed better, why cant our guys separate the endzone with one on the left and one on the right and one or two in the middlle thereby giving Brady an option to throw where there is the least coverage. They congregate where our players do–split them up.
September 13th, 2021 at 1:12 pm
About time special teams showed up for the game
September 13th, 2021 at 1:37 pm
Losing the turnover battle is.a must
Penalties reminded me of the first 5 games last year
Undisciplined lacking concentration.
Since we should have — would have lost if the kicker didn’t actually hand us the game should not be any comfort
BAs ohh hum attitude is concerning
September 13th, 2021 at 2:28 pm
Does BA always bench Rojo after a mistake as we never saw him after what I believe wasn’t his fault fumble? In the past he is made up for it and then some once he makes a costly mistake. Don’t understand BA?
September 13th, 2021 at 6:38 pm
First games can say alot and not say anything. Don’t listen to the
to the negative speeches that says if Dallaz had made their two field
goals Tampa Bay would have been in trouble. You want
those two ifs you got’em but nothing is given except
turnovers. Then I’ll take Rojo’s and Godwin’s fumbles. Even swap is
no swindle. Sure JW and the Saints will be a challenge so will the Rams and Buffalo, but it wouldn’t be right if every game was a cake walk. We need to sure up somethings but thats why we don’t play all 17 games in 17 days.
September 13th, 2021 at 6:40 pm
First games can say alot and not say anything.6 Don’t listen to the
to the negative speeches that says if Dallas had made their two field
goals Tampa Bay would have been in trouble. You want
those two ifs you got’em but nothing is given except
turnovers. Then I’ll take Rojo’s and Godwin’s fumbles. Even swap is
no swindle. Sure JW and the Saints will be a challenge so will the Rams and Buffalo, but it wouldn’t be right if every game was a cake walk. We need to sure up somethings but thats why we don’t play all 17 games in 17 days.
September 14th, 2021 at 11:20 pm
We don’t need Byron leftwitch. Let Brady be offensive coordinator too cuz if it wasn’t for him we would of got killed. What did B.L. do as a quarterback in Jacksonville??????? Run run run we need a sean Payton coordinator or Dallas’s OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR!!!!!!! IF BRADY DIDN’T CHANGE PLAYS WE WOULD OF GOT SMOKED!!!!!