“You Almost Wanted To Turn It Off”
October 15th, 2021
Our beloved Bucs again did not play a 60-minute game.
It’s very exciting and a little frustrating at the same time.
In the first half last night the Eagles had just one play in Bucs territory — one!
Soon after, the Bucs had a 28-7 lead while the Eagles didn’t hit 100 yards of total offense until the fourth quarter.
The Eagles offense was all over the place and flat out garbage. Former Panthers receiver Steve Smith, who attended the game, was railing on NFL Network about how the Eagles were running a bad high school offense.
Philadelphia sports radio is all over the Eagles today for their miserable playcalling and approach. And former All-Pro running back Tiki Barber took a very cerebral approach on CBS Sports Radio to further critique the overall mess that is the Eagles offense and its outclassed coaching.
Barber also talked about the Bucs and how their offense was so dominant early in the game, so precise. Barber said of the game, “You almost wanted to turn it off.”
Midway through the third quarter, the Bucs led 28-7 after a long drive and Leonard Fournette’s second touchdown.
And then what happened?
Joe will not overreact and dive deep into the Bucs losing a little fire after getting a three-score lead en route to their 28-22 win. And Bucco Bruce Arians’ decision to go for it on 4th-and-3 on the Eagles-46 leading by two touchdowns with 9:04 remaining in the fourth quarter isn’t worth the scrutiny.
No team is perfect, but it sure was odd to see so much air come out of the Bucs’ balloon with a chance to choke out an opponent.
Joe watched the game with a fan who was thinking like Barber and stopped watching when the Bucs took a 28-7 lead. The next text Joe got from the fan read, “How the hell did that happen?”
October 15th, 2021 at 5:42 pm
I was there, we for sure let the Eagles fans back in the game during the 4th quarter.
October 15th, 2021 at 5:42 pm
I was 100% on board last night for that 4th and 3 chance. But, what I thought was horrible was the call to try and hit OJ. The way the offense was owning the Eagles that 4th down should have been an easy pick up. Stupid part was throwing to OJ when you have all those other weapons and Lenny chewing em up. Loved going for it…. Just don’t do a play like they did.
October 15th, 2021 at 5:44 pm
What happened with Alex Cappa last night? Seemed like he couldn’t handle his assignment at all. He looked like a liability.
October 15th, 2021 at 5:47 pm
I remember seeing vita dancing and laughing on the sideline inq3. Not really killer instinct. Don’t get cocky!
October 15th, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Two things bothered me…..
We should NEVER….NEVER run a 1st down play with an empty backfield……that is the perfect time to play action and you can’t do it with an empty backfield….
We seem to throw the low percentage passes quite often on 3rd & medium/short and 4th down…….we did it last night….I have no problem going for it on 4th & 3 but we need to move the chains with a 5 yard pass……
October 15th, 2021 at 5:54 pm
Joe are the Bucs getting complacent? Just read a comment that I was thinking about last night vea dancing on the side line. Think these guys need to stay focused for a full 60 n save the dancing for after a win. These guys need to get serious. Repeating is serious business. It’s early I know and we are sitting 5-1 but still I want us to repeat and using these games to get better is how you repeat
October 15th, 2021 at 6:02 pm
This is the pros. Teams go on runs. Noone is going to care about the style points we didnt rack up this week come next Sunday.
October 15th, 2021 at 6:11 pm
We left 14 points on the board the last two games by taking knees on the opponent 5 yard line….I’m sure OK with that….unless I had the Bucs and gave 7 points…..wow….what an awful feeling that must have been.
October 15th, 2021 at 6:15 pm
Well the Bucs were playing not to lose rather than playing to win. In other words they got very conservative with the offensive play calls as the running clock was their ally. While it worked, it can be ugly and somewhat painful to watch.
I really didn’t like going for it on fourth and second, that didn’t fit either the “kill them with the clock” logic, and it was stupidly aggressive. The only way Phili could score was either very favorable field position or huge penalties.
First Phili TD was set up on a 45 yard pass interference call.
Second Phili TD was set up on a 50 yard pass interference call.
In other words, Phili couldn’t move the ball without help. So why help them by going for it on fourth and two at around midfield?
October 15th, 2021 at 6:16 pm
So this is the Bucslife under Brady-Bucs?
Howard will take it!
This is the good life that Howard used to watch the Pats fans living when they had Mr Brady. Howard watched disdainfully from afar as this mr perfect obnoxious QB took them up and down the field. Well, now Brady is in Tampa and Howard has done a 180. Instead of hating Brady Howard now thinks Brady may be the single greatest human to have ever lived.
LOL the Bucs run sweet, effective screen plays now EXACTLY like the Pats used to do when Howard hated them and Brady led them. Now with Brady gone, the Pats are a lifeless shell of their former selves.
October 15th, 2021 at 6:21 pm
The only reason the Eagles scored any points is because of Bucs penalties & 1 questionable decision. Bucs gave them all 3 TDs.
o First TD: Eagles started at their own 25 yd line. They went 75 yds for a TD in a total of 7 plays. Bucs had 3 penalties totaling 55 yds (1 PI for 45 yds, 1 neutral zone, 1 encroachment). We gave them that TD.
o Second TD: Eagles started at their own 25 yd line. They again went 75 yds for a TD in a total of 7 plays again. Bucs had only 1 penalty … a PI for 50 yds. We gave them that TD also.
o Third TD: Eagles started at the Philly 46 yd line after the Bucs went for it on 4th & 3 yds but didn’t make it. Philly went 54 yds for a TD in a total of (you guessed it) 7 plays. Two runs by Miles Sanders for 37 yds were the key. We gave them that TD also by not punting & pinning them back deep in their own half of the field. (and yes we could’ve made that 4th-and-3 but it was dumb shooting for the low-percentage deep pass to OJ).
October 15th, 2021 at 6:22 pm
I saw everything. I felt like Ira that the Bucs were in control the entire game. We got a little sloppy and let them run down the field, and we went into almost prevent offense in the second half but Brady could shred their secondary at will last night. The score in my opinion was a lot closer than the game. The eagles defense looked good but our passing game is unbelievable. And that’s with Gronk out. Fournette and AB are amazing. Go Bucs!!!
October 15th, 2021 at 6:23 pm
I too was guilty of thinking this game was over late in the 3rd quarter. A few plays went the wrong way and that was all it took for the iggles to claw their way back in the game. Thankfully the Joe’s favorite farm animal was the ultimate closer!
October 15th, 2021 at 6:23 pm
PassingThru … LMAO. You were obviously writing yours while I was writing mine.
October 15th, 2021 at 6:57 pm
Defense Rules, perhaps we were separated at birth….
October 15th, 2021 at 7:28 pm
Weird game indeed…started to wonder if they’d collapse a la MNF in 2003. Not with Brady…not with Brady.
October 15th, 2021 at 7:33 pm
PassingThru … LMAO again but somehow I doubt it. Been told many times that they were convinced my brothers and I were raised by wolves. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
October 15th, 2021 at 8:11 pm
Jalen hurts is the worst starting QB since Timmy T.
Maybe that worst I’ve ever seen.
To let them hang that many points….
Also, 45s head seems to be in his new crib
The good news is we are 5-1 while
sleep walking
October 15th, 2021 at 8:22 pm
I normally don’t raise this point os I’ve seen the Bucs get royally screwed by refs for decades, The fourth quarter was weird. Bus deliberately stalled on the goal line. Why? They would nit have crushed the Eagles. Going up 31-22 is not a rout.
October 15th, 2021 at 8:25 pm
not not nit. Hate the edit crap on these programs.
October 15th, 2021 at 8:36 pm
Clearly it’s a fine line, shortly after the Bucs did there was a 3 and out followed by a Eagles score, somewhere in the mix was the go for it on 4th and short… amazing talent in the NFL and as the saying goes. On any Thursday
October 15th, 2021 at 9:13 pm
Over confidence will fck you eventually.
October 15th, 2021 at 9:39 pm
That 4-3 should have been a 4-1. Awful spot. Should and would have been a easy run conversion.
October 15th, 2021 at 10:01 pm
The Bucs could have scored a TD in the last 2 minutes and ran the score up to 35…but why?
October 15th, 2021 at 10:05 pm
Were it not for the refs blatantly cheating on behalf of the Bucs, we don’t win that game. Plain and simple. If you missed all the funny calls, then you are still wearing your Red & Pewter googles. Even saw the same cheating ref try to push a defender off of Brady while he just threw an INT. It was absolutely laughable, these refs didn’t even pretend they were real.
Even with that, the Bucs nearly blew the game. Sorry, folks but this team CANNOT stand up to any team with a great defense and even an above average defense. We saw what the Rams did to the Bucs, heaven forbid we play the Cardinals or a number of quality AFC teams.
The Bills, Browns, Ravens, and Chargers would all spank us. Unless we see this defense do a complete 180, and an offense that doesn’t go thru long sputtering stretches (mostly due mostly to stupid play-calling), we are in for a VERY RUDE AWAKENING.
October 15th, 2021 at 11:05 pm
Where did Izod come from? Why don’t you slither back under your rock.
October 15th, 2021 at 11:32 pm
The decision to go for it was good. Actually they should go um 4 th down morre times. Just dont try to throw a 30 yard when only two are needed
October 15th, 2021 at 11:35 pm
Defense Rules summed up what occurred quite nicely.
BA also mentioned the two large yardage penalties in a remark during a press conference. I did not take him to be making excuses but rather merely pointing out that such things can make a difference in how a game turns.
October 16th, 2021 at 12:19 am
Tampabaybucfan Says:
October 15th, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Two things bothered me…..
We should NEVER….NEVER run a 1st down play with an empty backfield……that is the perfect time to play action and you can’t do it with an empty backfield….
We seem to throw the low percentage passes quite often on 3rd & medium/short and 4th down…….we did it last night….I have no problem going for it on 4th & 3 but we need to move the chains with a 5 yard pass……
I agree completely why the Fck are we going for a long ball on 4th and 3? so many 3rd downs lost with a long ball instead of a run play
October 16th, 2021 at 1:01 am
Few easy games ahead, good time to experiment and test the waters. We gonna ramp it up when it matters
October 16th, 2021 at 2:20 am
The Bucs will be fine, they are winning without a secondary, they are so beat up, and again the Bucs are still winning. As time goes they will have the walking wounded back, and and even then with a secondary that is not be great the Bucs will stay competitive all season long.
October 16th, 2021 at 4:37 am
August 1976 … While I agree with you that winning while you’re beaten up is great, I’m still torn on what I’ve been seeing in these first 6 games however. For some reason, the Bucs just haven’t looked like a team with a sense of urgency, but we’re getting better along those lines.
Our DLine has been mostly intact (except for JPP), has been meeting its #1 goal (stop the run) & we’ve been getting relatively decent pressure on opposing QBs. That’s successfully made other teams pretty much one-dimensional (we’ve got the most passing attempts against us by far).
In the process we’ve created a ‘Good-news – Bad news’ conundrum for ourselves it looks like. The Good news: Bucs’ defense has forced opponents to rely on a quick short passing attack for the most part. The Bad news: Bucs’ defense has had gobs of trouble stopping opponents quick short passing attack.
And yet, despite all the injuries, our defense has actually improved in these last 3 games IMO. We surrendered 88 pts in the first 3 games, but only 56 pts in our last 3 games; that’s progress. I think the primary reason is quite obvious: they haven’t been on the field as long (we are playing better too).
Our TOP for the first 3 games averaged 27:17 mins (our quick strike passing attack worked great, but it didn’t eat up much clock because we didn’t run the ball much). Our TOP in the last 3 games averaged 36:59 mins (we ran the ball MUCH more). Thus our defense spent almost TEN FEWER MINUTES on the field each of those last 3 games; that’s dramatic IMO. They were fresher, did better on stopping 3rd down conversions, and got off the field faster, despite playing without over one-third of our starters.
To me it’s a great example of how a strong offense can help a struggling defense. CONTROL THE GAME with a reasonably BALANCED ATTACK. Eat up the clock, don’t turn the ball over, and put lots of points on the board, especially early. We’ve done a pretty good job of that against our last 3 opponents … and walked away with 3 wins.
October 16th, 2021 at 7:45 am
The Bucs are human! The literally grew bored. They stomped the Eagles into the dirt and simply grew bored with the beat down. There was nothing left to prove.
Oh but the scoreboard you say. Yeah not good to grow bored before the final whistle but the Buc’s just knew they owned these guys. They simply lost interest in showing how much freaking better the Bucs are than the Eagles.
But that’s today, who knows where the Eagles will be by the end of the season. But they do need some serious work, not sure the coach is up to it.
October 16th, 2021 at 7:48 am
Not to change the subject but that ref wasn’t helping Brady at all by coming between him and the defensive lineman. That lineman can’t go after Brady unless he makes a move to play defense. If Brady just stands there you can’t go after him. That lineman should have been flagged and had his as- kicked on the next play. GO BUCS!
October 16th, 2021 at 9:10 am
They almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Thank God it was the Eagles.. The other thing…. No way they should have been able to make that 2 pt conversion.
October 16th, 2021 at 9:22 am
3 games 11 days all night travel had to be a bit gassed and still winning let’s remember how they came off the bye last year Second half will be awesome.
October 16th, 2021 at 3:01 pm
DR, what you failed to mention the last Eagles scoring drive Suh, Vea and Shaq were not on the field until they got inside the 10 yd line. Also I disagree with all that said the 4th & 3 was a good idea. Philly had the momentum and Bucs O was flailing. Also Lenny wasn’t in the game so the run threat was gone. Pin them back take time off the clock and end the game. Joe, do you have any idea why Eagles went for 2? Makes no sense to me.
October 16th, 2021 at 5:35 pm
We will not outscore everybody this season and Brady will come upon a bad game or two. Our defense must wake up. Because somebody is going to surprise us.
October 17th, 2021 at 10:28 am
Without two pass interference calls that game was 35-6. The NFL really needs to fix these 50+ yard penalty calls. The league rule assumes the ball would be caught without the Pi. That’s silly. They should look at completion rates on non-PI deep throws. Maybe a half the distance to the intended receiver unless intentional or something. You never want a penalty to be part of the game plan, but it’s taking over the league.
October 18th, 2021 at 7:05 pm
I turned it off when Peyton Manning had the Patriots up 24-0 at the half.Finally I turned it on to see Brady win the game in OT. I learned my lesson and hung in there for Super Bowl 51 against the Falcons.