Baker Mayfield and Bucky Irving react to Irving’s 56-yard run in the fourth quarter yesterday. (Photo courtesy of Buccaneers.com.)

Welcome to Victory Monday! Been too long for Joe to type that. What a fun, cool game. Playoff hopes remain alive. Bucs fans, we have reasons to be thankful in a couple of days after watching that win. Fill your coffee mug up and let’s roll!

The Race To 10

All of a sudden, if the Bucs play anything close to like they did yesterday, a playoff berth all of a sudden doesn’t seem so ridiculous.

But that’s the trick. Can the Bucs keep up this pace of play like they performed yesterday? They’re going to need it.

Suddenly, in part due to the collapse of the Dixie Chicks, the Bucs are only one game out of first place. Yes, Joe knows Atlanta has the tiebreaker, but that only means the Bucs have to have a better record than Atlanta.

Making up a two-game deficit with six to play is possible. Not easy. Need help. But possible.

That’s what that game and the result has done for Bucs fans. Breathed life into a fanbase that not only was quickly giving up on the season but apparently wants a coaching change in January.

Ah, but the sun is shining brighter today. The traffic thinner. The coffee more robust. The breakfast Danish sweeter.

That’s life in the NFL on a Victory Monday when playoff hopes are rekindled. Five more wins for a potential playoff berth, or perhaps a division title.

Defensive Duo Dominating

Look, there was no element of the Bucs, with the exception of kick return, that had a bad game yesterday. Everything was clicking.

And so too was the interior pass rush from beastly Vita Vea and second-year fellow defensive tackle Calijah Kancey. Those two are becoming a ferocious duo in the middle.

Vea yesterday just looked like he was back in his famous high school YouTube highlights. He was just toying with people.

The time he sacked Tommy Cutles, Vea absolutely freight-trained Giants center John Michael Schmitz Jr. It looked like a Road Runner cartoon when Wile E. Coyote got run over by a train. Flattened. It was hilarious.

Then there is Kancey. He chalked up his fourth game in a row with a sack. And the way he flew through the Giants offensive line to rock Tommy Cutlet’s world, Joe swore that was No. 99 for a brief moment.

Kancey now has four sacks in his last three games. And if you think about it, he’s just hitting the month of October. Remember, Kancey missed most of training camp and all of worthless preseason football and the first give games of the season.

So just now, Kancey is in regular season shape. And Joe thinks that is reflected by the numbers he is putting up. Kancey also contributed a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss yesterday.

So yeah Kancey is balling out and Vea is also taking advantage as teams can’t key on him and get away with it with Kancey rounding into form.

Oh, and Vea playing fullback on Sean Tucker’s touchdown run? Let’s just say that Giants linebackers didn’t want any of that smoke. LOL

https://twitter.com/NFLonCBS/status/1860749681904529600

The Liam Coen Effect

The Bucs yesterday had just about the perfect Mike Leach balanced offense. Joe already typed about this, but Leach believed a balanced offense isn’t same amount of runs and passes but all positions contribute equally.

That’s exactly what Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen did yesterday. Once again, Coen had an outstanding afternoon of play-calling. He was really on top of things.

Yesterday is yet another reason “this Joe” is pretty convinced Coen will be a head coach next year, somewhere, college or NFL. Coen is that good.

Quarterbacks and offenses make owners money. If Dave Canales — who seems to have the Stinking Panthers playing decent ball now — can get a head coaching job, surely so can Coen the way he has the Bucs offense humming despite dealing with major adversity with injuries.

The Return Of Mike Evans

It sure seemed like, hearing the words of Todd Bowles and Coen last week at One Buc Palace, that future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans was not 100 percent recovered from his hamstring injury. But just having him on the field made a difference.

You could see and even feel how the offense was different and lethal just because the Giants had to account for Evans on the field. Joe is convinced Evans catching a couple of passes really opened up the Bucs offense.

If the Bucs are going to make a successful run to the playoffs, Evans simply must be on the field.

Did Bucs Fans Take Over MetLife Stadium?

Joe wasn’t at the game. So he has no idea how many Bucs fans were in MetLife Stadium at the New Jersey Swamplands. But Joe sure as heck heard them.

It was the fourth quarter. Bucs rookie running back and fan favorite Bucky Irving just make his 56-yard run (with Baker Mayfield blocking for him 45 yards downfield). It was an awesome play.

Only way that play could have been better is if somehow Irving found the end zone.

Then, Joe heard it. For a brief second, Joe thought he was hearing things. Then Joe thought CBS was running a clip of Irving at The Licht House.

“Buh-KEE! … Buh-KEE … Buh-KEE … Buh-KEE! … “

It was clear as day on the TV. Joe wondered if there were so many Bucs fans that they outnumbered Giants fans. Joe honestly doesn’t ever remember a visiting team’s fans taking over MetLife Stadium like that. (To be fair, Joe doesn’t watch many Giants games.)

Now CBS cameras showed shorts not too long before Irving’s run of Giants fans marching out of the stadium. Had Giants fans all cleared out by the time Irving made his run?

Joe honestly hasn’t seen Bucs fans take over visiting stadiums like you might see with Steelers fans or Cowboys fans or Packers fans or Eagles fans or sometimes Bears fans.

The closest thing Joe ever saw to Bucs fans taking over a stadium was at San Diego in 2016 when it appeared 70-80 percent of the seats — from the front row up to the very top — behind the Bucs bench at Jack Murphy Stadium were Bucs fans.

So if there were any Bucs fans that made the trip to New Jersey for the game are reading this here post, let Joe know what that scene was like.

Regardless, to hear Bucs fans holler loudly for Irving was a very cool thing.