Bucs Get A “C-“
September 28th, 2021
Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians.
It wasn’t the best showing in Los Angeles but at least the loss wasn’t so bad that people are jumping off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Over at CBS Sports, John Breech came away watching the Bucs with a meh taste in his mouth. As a result, he graded the Bucs with a “C-” for Week 3.
Tom Brady was on the money for stretches of Sunday’s potential NFC Championship Game preview, and for about a half he looked very capable of guiding another signature comeback. But this was still a tame offensive performance by their standards, with no run game to speak of and an Antonio Brown-less receiving corps occasionally struggling to find openings against the L.A. secondary. Defensively, they had few answers for Matthew Stafford’s own pass-heavy attack, proving vulnerable to the pass for the third straight week.
Joe never thought this but Mike Tanier over at Football Outsiders made Joe consdider it.
Without furniture-tossing, bicycle-throwing receiver Antonio Brown, the Bucs sure seemed slower than the Rams. Now Joe isn’t sure if that was just because the Rams played that quick or if they actually were that much quicker.
It gave Joe someething to think about.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:12 am
It will be a different game if there is a next time in the playoffs, “IF” the Bucs are not a walking Covid and Mash unit.
GO BUCS!!!!!!
September 28th, 2021 at 9:12 am
Pete averaged a C- in school & performed better than that. They get a D- for getting on the plane
September 28th, 2021 at 9:13 am
The Rams beat us last year too, and they are improved this year.
I think if we would have had all our starters, it may have been a different story, but it is what it is.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:19 am
I’d argue that’s pretty generous of him
September 28th, 2021 at 9:21 am
I just cant understand why Licht didn’t sure up the secondary in the off season. I don’t care what anyone says they are not that good this year or last.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:32 am
As much as joe and a lot of people in here do not want to hear it. Antonio Brown may be our best WR.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:33 am
What did we miss AB”sis blocking ability, the threat of AB or what?
September 28th, 2021 at 9:35 am
Heading home again. Only one game out of the old, familiar harborage – Buccaneer Cove!
September 28th, 2021 at 9:38 am
Game plan…not very good
1st Qtr play calls …. pretty awful
Defense…..worn out and ‘Hot Knife Through Butter’ 2nd Qtr on cause the O was sputtering and dinking it up.
Only lost by 7 points….too little too late.
C- is about right for that calamity.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:44 am
The D needs to step it up. By that I mean, Devin White and the entire D-line. White is not the same guy we saw at the end of the year and playoffs. Vea and Suh need to actually be on the field before they can do much. Shaq? I get he’s being doubled and schemed for but every top pass rusher in the league gets the same treatment. BTW Tryon-Shoyinka was sooo close early, and later I noticed they were doubling him, and chipping him.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:49 am
Offense C at best, and F for the defense.
Whats up with Vita and Suh being part time players.
Especially with the lame pass rush.
They need their best on the field more if it is possible.
The Back ups are back ups for a reason.
Hey here is an idea—let’s tie our hands behind our back and try to box someone, you know and just get your face beat in.
Whats up with this lame no rush, super soft cushion Defense.
Why not bring the house after Stafford, why just give up like they did on Sunday.
If you think you are going to get beat anyways with a bunch of back ups playing in the secondary why not at least go after the QB more.
Why not at least chuck the reciever at the line, even if they get beat, give the pass rush a moment or 2 to get pressure on the QB?????????????
Just some honest questions about the garbage D we had to watch.
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 28th, 2021 at 9:50 am
The defense feeds off of JPP. He’s the dominant outside linebacker on our D. When he’s out, Shaq has never been effective. Then you add SMB and Dean, that’s huge.
I don’t understand the lack of a running game so far though. Last year our O-line ran everyone over. So far this year, they seem less dominant in both run and pass. The second half of last year, Brady was never breathed on. This year, the pressure is getting to him. I do think he’s going to get hurt if the line doesn’t up their game and then our season is over.
September 28th, 2021 at 9:53 am
Which Bucs left a meh taste in his mouth Joe ??? You sure it wasn’t Nick Wright ?
September 28th, 2021 at 10:07 am
So much negativity for a team thats 2-1. A banged up Bucs team flies 4 hours to play a very talented Rams teamon the road. The Bucs so far have been extremely unlucky on the injury front. My guess is both Suh and Via have nagging injuries and we’re just not hearing much about it. Give them a break its tough to get a road win never mind when most of the team is having heath issues.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:12 am
Time for some 17-0 homer Buc fans to pull their head out of the septic tank.
Gravediggers nonsense. They were shredded last season before the playoff run. They were studying their own press clippings like a 14 year old with his first playboy magazine.
The vaunted pass rush is beaten routinely by any QB with a fast release.
How quickly the accolades for Licht returning all starters turned into “what the hell was he thinking?”
The only plausible solution is man press coverage. A running game would be nice too even though some blogger doesn’t think we need one.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:19 am
AB REALLY seems to help with our short passing game.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:19 am
The Bucs were beaten physically at the line of Scrimmage by the Rams. The D line and O line were beat.
The Bucs D line has been dominant for the last couple of years, but NOT on sunday.
That is the most concerning thing to me.
The Bucs have been strong at the line of Scrimmage, that is the foundation of the winning. The Rams physically beat the Bucs on Sunday, again that is what is the most concerning thing to me.
If you win the line of scrimmage, you win most games, turnovers are the wild card. The Bucs got their azz whooped physically at the line of Scrimmage by the Rams.
There is no way to sugar coat the other team being more physical than your team and kicking your azz.
GO BUCS!!!!
September 28th, 2021 at 10:33 am
I agree with August 1976.
Bucs lost the trench war bigly.
No win that war, no win any game.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:38 am
Defense was beat in every aspect. D line = F, Secondary = F- CB’s are a bad joke. Gravediggers, lol. Everyone on the D needs to run 100 laps this week.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:51 am
1995
That’s how long I’ve been a Bucs fan. This loss doesn’t make my top 100 losses.
Keep fighting.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:58 am
Even without Brown, our offense is far better than the Ram’s. The difference to me is that the Rams were the hungrier team, our defense was pathetic, and the refs had some home cooking lined up nice and hot for the Rams. Also, I’d give our running backs an F and our run game coordinator/dumba$$ who came up with the running plan an F. Overall, C- is a gift and I’d give the whole team a D-. Wake up dudes, last year is long gone!
September 28th, 2021 at 11:35 am
Unquestionably this defense needs its leaders to step up and set the example so the lesser talented players will raise up their game.
Watching Cowboys/Eagles last night, I saw so much aggression on both defenses.
There is no comparison to how lacking in hustle and tenacity the Bucs defense has now. Its so obvious that the level of intensity from other defenses is much more evident.
They are playing way too soft and not hitting anyone. The vaunted Dallas offensive line gave up multiple sacks to the Eagles and Prescott took some big hits. Buc defense barely touched him.
The complacity on the defense has to be corrected, they need to get their butts whipped by coaching, not enough effort.
September 28th, 2021 at 11:56 am
Communication is lacking its obvious..the leaders need to convey the play better and be more discipline in zone schemes
September 28th, 2021 at 12:48 pm
Defense gets an F-
Special teams gets a F
Offense gets a C+
So, overall, a D-
September 28th, 2021 at 1:23 pm
Usually when you look at the stats from a game, certain things jump out at you that sorta kinda explain why the winner won & the loser lost. Stats don’t effectively measure things like big plays & intensity, but nevertheless they usually tell a story.
Two of the most interesting stat groupings to me are (1) snap count; and (2) drives summary together with the play-by-play recap. Look at the Rams’ defensive snap counts & you’ll see that their entire starting Secondary (5 guys) virtually played 100% of the snaps, and 3 of their starting LBs averaged well over 80%. Donald (DT) & Joseph (NT) were both on the field for over 2/3rds of the plays too. IOW, the Rams defense was healthy & they had great continuity in that game.
Bucs defense on the other hand didn’t fare nearly as well. Davis, Winfield, LVD & White all got 100% snaps, and Shaq ended up with 89% (more than he normally plays). Cockrell & Delaney (2 backups) got 88% & 82% each (we lost Dean early-on after he’d gotten only 12 snaps). JTS ended up with 78% (much more than he’d been getting) but Whitehead only got 65% (wonder if he’s REALLY 100%?). But it gets weird after that. Suh only got 52% & Vea only 51% in a big game (don’t understand that). RNR got 49% of the snaps while Gholston only got 37% (why wasn’t Will used more?). Obviously the Rams defense had a huge advantage throughout that game.
How the Bucs fared on each drive (and how we screwed ourselves by allowing 2 LOOOONG receptions by DJax) is also really interesting. Very uncharacteristic of our defense … when we’ve got our regular starters in there.
September 28th, 2021 at 2:34 pm
Well there’s stats but then there’s factors you can’t quantify. The Rams simply beat up the Bucs, that’s just what happened…
September 28th, 2021 at 2:57 pm
Jim … You’re absolutely right, the Rams did beat up the Bucs. But they had pretty much a full complement of starters. The Bucs? Not so much. About one-third of our defense was composed of backups for most of the game (Delaney, Cochrell, JTS plus Whitehead missed a lot of snaps he’d normally be in for). Not to mention that Vea & Sun only played half the game each.
Not making excuses for the way our defense played by any means because I don’t think our coaches adjusted well at all, but playing a Super Bowl contender with an excellent offense & defense across the country on their turf with an undermanned defense isn’t exactly the best way to start a game.
September 28th, 2021 at 5:40 pm
AB was not the difference in that game.
It was the play of the lineman (offense and defense). The Rams simply manhandled them.
September 28th, 2021 at 10:04 pm
C-?
Puff puff give…