The Apocalypse Before Christmas
December 22nd, 2021
Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians.
Last night Joe had his feelings of dread from Sunday night all brought back up after report after report after report of Bucs injuries trickled in.
Joe had a read a reference to Sunday’s loss to the slimy Saints as “The Apocalypse Before Christmas.” It was bad enough that the Bucs got seal-clubbed. Far worse: The Bucs likely lost four of their best players for the regular season and beyond.
Chris Godwin’s season is done. Lavonte David is done until the playoffs. We won’t see Playoff Lenny until the playoffs. And later today we should get word on Mike Evans.
Can 17-game-loathing, salad-bar-hating, park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking, tequila-shooting, smartphone-phobic, waffle-grilling, trophy-throwing, roller-coaster-scared, numbers-rules-peeved, helmet-tossing, football-punting, Bucs-Super-Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady somehow sprinkle his magic pixie dust on Le’Veon Bell? (Joe cannot believe he just typed that question)
The fact the Bucs dragged washed-up Bell off a personal watercraft in Biscayne Bay to sign with the team tells Joe the powers that be at One Buc Palace have lost a lot of trust in Ronald Jones. Just seeing how RoJo left the field a few times when he was the No. 1 running back after Playoff Lenny got hurt was a pretty big tip.
These next three weeks are going to be very interesting. It almost has the feel of the preseason, where a lot of backups will be getting snaps while the coaches tinker with a variety of things to figure out an attack plan without various stars.
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:21 am
Brady has always been able to work with the players that show up and bring them into the flow of the game
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:21 am
Joe, LeVeon was washed up 3 years ago when you wanted us to pick him up.
It is time to find out what the Core of this team is made of. We have the Goat at QB who used to work magic with lesser WRs than he will have to work with these next three games. Time to put the hardhat on!
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:24 am
Brady needs to craft the game plan and call his own plays. Period.
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:25 am
Yeah the I interesting thing is that Godwin took over as a slot receiver, who else even plays that spot so we can run our offense? Tyler Johnson? I think he can be good once he’s comfortable but we’re short on time.
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:27 am
Saints were knee hunting and it was obvious
bountygate 2.winston
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:48 am
The ghost of Christmas past will be resurrected maybe? Not all treasure is silver and gold mate! Go Bucs! Time to set the sails to the SB! Arghh! Go Bucs!
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:48 am
No need to push the panic button.
The game against the slimy Saints was a perfect sh*t storm. They had their best performance of the year, Bucs had their worst, their coaches had an amazing game plan, BL was terrible, injuries, bad luck, bad refs, kicker woes, everything went wrong. It hurts, but it’s just one game, it happens in sports.
Bucs will miss the injuried stars, no doubt about it. But imho, the roster is good enough to close the regular season with three Ws and win the first playoff game. After that, everything is possible.
This team has proved time and again that has the heart and the guts to beat any opponent in the league.
This fanbase has to support our beloved Bucs, show how much we trust them. We have to be grateful to enjoy this moment and be confident that the coaches and the players will figure out the best ways to win from now on. Like they did last year.
Go Bucs!!!
December 22nd, 2021 at 12:57 am
bell is worthless. P’burg, KC , Jets , & now us ……there might have been another team he’s been dropped from????
December 22nd, 2021 at 1:12 am
Balimore.
He screwed up his career by holding out a whole season. Could have been a Hall of Famer. Now, he will be remembered as a joke.
December 22nd, 2021 at 1:22 am
This is crazy talk. Bell is just added depth. RoJo is not the reason the Bucs got shut out. The blame for that lies some where between Byron and Brady.
December 22nd, 2021 at 1:39 am
Exactly @TRex
December 22nd, 2021 at 1:53 am
Evans likely done for the season Joe? That’s not what I was anticipating. This has gone from bad to are we completely done?
December 22nd, 2021 at 1:55 am
What’s the status on Justin Watson? I know he’s been in the Brady dog house and injured. Is he out for the year? Could use his size on the outside if Evans is out.
December 22nd, 2021 at 2:23 am
I guess we get to see what the coaches are actually worth now. I wish them the best, they gonna need it with Bell (who really couldn’t possibly be worse than vaugn).
December 22nd, 2021 at 2:39 am
IDK what it means, but Arians said that many of our beginning plays were RPO’s and Brady decided the options–not BL. It makes me wonder.
December 22nd, 2021 at 3:08 am
All the hits may have been legal, but the saints are a nasty football team. They were headhunting. I believe this is why Brady was yelling at their DC.
They went to the game to hurt us, and our players tried to not end their seasons right there, as this game was not a “do or die” for the playoffs. Since the famous DPI incident that the saints can do whatever they want and the NFL looks the other way. Sean Payton us one of the dirtiest coaches in NFL
December 22nd, 2021 at 3:30 am
I hope AB revives Bell
December 22nd, 2021 at 3:48 am
I know kicking dirt on the grave of Keyshawn Vaughn is fashionable, but going into Sunday, that guy has had extremely limited touches in 2 seasons and as the #3 back, most of his practice reps were likely limited to the scout team.
For his career: 39 carries for 159 which is a 4.3 YPC. Again, super limited sample size to draw any conclusion, but he, in combination with Rojo is probably the best hope. My biggest concern for both of them is pass blocking, because if they can’t pick up the blitz, that likely means keeping Gronk in to block.
I know everybody wants to panic, (maybe with good reason) but I’d like to give the guy at least two weeks of reps with the starters and some counsel from Brady before we run this guy out of town.
December 22nd, 2021 at 4:29 am
Typical dirty Saints, another bounty on our players. If I were the Glazers I’d be going crazy at the league level. Payton should have been kicked out of the nfl years ago. I guess injuring opposing players by design is ok but not being woke is not in the nfl.
December 22nd, 2021 at 6:40 am
Is it coincidental that so many Bucs were hurt in this game, or were the Saints playing dirty? Has Joe seen more film? I don’t believe in coincidences but I don’t have access to anything other than what the TV showed.
December 22nd, 2021 at 6:55 am
I’m amazed how so many fans could just dismiss the Saints nightmare game as an aberration. Unfortunately I see all to clearly where this team is going. Even if they can somehow win one more game they’re a one and done team this year. It was a good run but this team has MAJOR FLAWS and brittle players.
Fuk 2021. Get rid of some of this dead weight in off-season.
December 22nd, 2021 at 7:12 am
One would think Rojo will want to put some good tape out there for free agency but who knows with that guy….he’s such a head case at times. The value to Bell is his ability to pass catch in the same manner Fournette did. Rojo simply can’t run a decent route and is even worse at catching.
December 22nd, 2021 at 7:14 am
When 4 top players are knocked out of one game it’s not coincidental. And they were not just knocked out of that game, they were “injured” for future games too. They were targeted no doubt. And the league should investigate.
December 22nd, 2021 at 7:39 am
Rojo will be #1 and Bell will be third down back and give rojo a few breathers
Lets face it. At least bell will catch a ball thrown at
Him. Vaughn cant. Not sure what happened to vaughn but he has zero confidence. He should be stoked to run behind first team guys
December 22nd, 2021 at 8:29 am
The Captain wired in they had water coming in and the good ship and crew was in peril…..
December 22nd, 2021 at 8:49 am
Rojo’s just been sandbagging..
He wants to be playoff Ronnie, this year.😂
December 22nd, 2021 at 9:38 am
We still have Mike Evans, Gronk, AB, Ronald Jones and supposedly Fournette. Brate and Howard are competent most of the time as well.
That is still more than every team in the NFL.
There are no excuses to not winning a Super Bowl still.
I think the defense is rising at the right time and getting healthy enough to overcome the loss of Chris Godwin.
I’m not entirely convinced we can’t get homefield advantage either still – the Packers will be playing very desperate Browns and Vikings teams in the next two weeks. That’s what happened to the Bucs last week, the Saints knew they had to have that game, and we came out with a game plan of throw the ball as much as we want cause we are untouchable.
What was supposed to be an easy schedule for us this year actually turned out to be the hardest (mathematically) out of the current NFC playoff teams.
The advanced tiebreakers like strength of victory are going to get really close as the end of year winds down though – two wins over Carolina and a win over the Jets will put a decent ding on our SOV.
December 22nd, 2021 at 11:13 am
He did it with Lenny, he was a cellar dweller. Bell is versatile, maybe just what the Dr. ordered. Hey when does BA go on IR?
December 22nd, 2021 at 1:55 pm
Honestly I wondered if Mike Evans was seeing what the lowly saints were doing and sidelined himself to prevent injury