Ira Kaufman’s 10 Takeaways From Bucs-Raiders
December 8th, 2024
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BY IRA KAUFMAN
As he reached for the Buc locker room door, with the Glazers lined up inside to greet him, YaYa Diaby spoke loud and clear for all to hear:
“First place, baby, first place.”
That kind of says it all as the Bucs vaulted to the top of the NFC South Sunday by beating the Raiders while the reeling Falcons were blitzed in Minnesota.
All it took was three consecutive wins after the bye, coupled with Atlanta’s 4-game losing streak. Buc fans had to be both surprised and delighted by a stellar defensive effort that limited Las Vegas to 13 points and 286 yards.
Injuries to Antoine Winfield Jr. and rookie sensation Bucky Irving didn’t deter the Bucs, who won despite three giveaways by Baker Mayfield.
Todd Bowles had the right answers for rookie tight end Brock Bowers, who entered the game leading the league in receptions. Bowers caught only three passes for 49 yards and was never a major factor as the Raiders suffered their ninth consecutive setback.
Irving gained only three yards before leaving with a back injury, but Tampa Bay’s surging ground game still rumbled for 152 yards. Rachaad White led the way with 90 yards, scoring once on the ground and once through the air.
It was a big day for Buc rookies as Jalen McMillan caught a pair of TD passes and Tykee Smith registered an interception and two passes defended.
Lavonte David led the defensive charge with seven tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. Kaevon Merriweather was active all afternoon with seven stops and a sack on a day Oakland converted only 4-of-13 on third down.
Mayfield started fast, throwing for 110 yards and a pair of scores in the opening quarter. The offense then bogged down in a major way as the offensive line struggled to protect Mayfield, who was picked off twice and also lost a fumble.
The Raiders crept within 14-10 at the half and reached the Buccaneer 10 on the opening drive of the third quarter before Smith shadowed Bowers and intercepted Aidan O’Connell.
Tampa Bay’s offense continued to plod along until Mayfield directed a 77-yard drive, highlighted by a 32-yard strike to Mike Evans and Sean Tucker’s 34-yard run that set up White’s 3-yard TD dash.
Desmond Ridder, replacing an injured O’Connell, led a long drive capped by Daniel Carlson’s 27-yard FG with 3:05 left before the Bucs finished off the outcome in dynamic style.
With the Bucs ahead 21-13, Cade Otton hauled in a 44-yard pass, dragging defenders for extra yardage. On third down, Mayfield beat the blitz by finding McMillan all alone in the right flat for a 29-yard score.
Here’s how Tampa Bay reached the division summit by downing the Raiders 28-13:
“Fury and vision” today from Rachaad White, says Ira.
* The Bucs won’t be playing the Giants, Panthers or Raiders in Week 14. Next up is a trip to Los Angeles to face Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers, one of the NFL’s most physical teams. The Falcons play the reeling Raiders the following evening, so Tampa Bay will probably need to win to stay on top.
* The Bucs couldn’t have asked for a better start, going up 14-0 after only 11 minutes. While Mayfield was sizzling, the Raiders gained one first down and 14 yards on their first two possessions.
* White ran with fury and vision, topped by a classic stiff arm as he was approaching the left sidelines. The Bucs needed him to step up in Irving’s absence and he obliged — with a key contribution from Tucker. “Man, the big guys came out on fire out of the gate,” said White, who had his most productive rushing day since last December at Atlanta.
* Calijah Kancey got away with a lapse in judgment on the play O’Connell hurt his knee. He shoved the Oakland quarterback to the ground well after the pass had left O’Connell’s hand. Somehow, the officials kept their flags in their pockets, failing to acknowledge an obvious penalty.
* Tristan Wirfs said he enjoyed his battle against Raiders stud defensive end Maxx Crosby, who also lined up often against Luke Goedeke. Both of Tampa Bay’s tackles did a nice job on Crosby, who finished with two tackles and one QB hit.
* Here’s the way Tampa Bay’s next six possessions went after taking a 14-0 lead: interception, fumble, punt, interception, punt and punt. The Raiders kept hanging around, but the embattled Buc defense would not allow the visitors to spring an upset.
* For much of the game, the crowd supplied little juice for the home team. Buc fans can do better — and they will.
Up and down day for playcaller Liam Coen’s group.
* Mayfield’s final passing numbers (295 yards, 3 TDs), are impressive, but his knack for ball security has slipped in recent weeks. He has thrown 11 picks in the past eight games, giving opponents short fields and robbing the Bucs of momentum.
* The 1,000-yard streak of Mike Evans is in serious jeopardy heading into the final month of the regular season. With 590 yards, Evans needs to average at least 102.5 yards the rest of the way to post his 11th consecutive 1,000-yard season.
* Liam Coen’s attack has been carrying this team most of the year. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, when the youngry Buc defense rose to the occasion. It was a very gratifying effort for Bowles and a confidence booster for the team before the Bucs head cross-country.
December 8th, 2024 at 6:44 pm
Throw the ball to Mike Evans.
December 8th, 2024 at 6:50 pm
JUST WIN BABY!!!
December 8th, 2024 at 6:55 pm
Of course the bucs fans can do better. IF they choose to go to games again. It’s become a far different place than the real Bucs fans were accustomed to.
December 8th, 2024 at 7:05 pm
Congratulations Ira, for cashing your $20 Vikings/Bucs parlay today. Figurative or otherwise!
December 8th, 2024 at 7:19 pm
Come on Mayfield. Help Evans get his 1000 yards by giving him more than 5 passes. Not only that but he got no red zone targets and as usual, no deep passes. Brady ensured his favorite players were taken care of, like Gronk getting his receiving bonus and he would have ensured Evans get his 1000 yards too.
December 8th, 2024 at 7:22 pm
It was great to get Tykee Smith back, so many players I have never heard of on defense. Hope Winfield did not get a serious injury. Baker looked rattled for a while. Maybe the Bucs can surprise the wworld next week.
December 8th, 2024 at 7:26 pm
I’ve said this from the time Baker got signed. He is the same QB as Winston. They are the same guy.
Both of them are loaded up with God given talent, and that fact bites them on the butt. They think they can out beat the defense by themselves.
With all that being said, I’m of the opinion that Baker has the benefit of better coaching/playcalling ( ya’ll remember Arians telling Winston after every interception “keep firing”).
But Mayfield is our quarterback, so he is my favorite QB in the league. LET’S GO BUCS!
December 8th, 2024 at 7:35 pm
Knothead…I would of agreed with you until the podcast showed Bakers stats in Cleveland. He was 30 plus on Touchdowns to INTs . That’s definitely not Winston
December 8th, 2024 at 7:36 pm
Looks like down to the wire time. Prolly come to the final game v U know who.
December 8th, 2024 at 7:50 pm
Pulling for the walking wounded Bucs, but the Chargers are not cupcakes especially at home. Wake up Baker and Coen!
December 8th, 2024 at 8:16 pm
Knothead, which is a great name for you. Think “beat” instead of “out beat.”
December 8th, 2024 at 8:23 pm
Knothead, try “loaded” instead of “loaded up” so you don’t sound like a knothead.
December 8th, 2024 at 8:26 pm
just signed up to say, nice throwback with the “yungry” comment…
taking it back to the raheem morris days, ira!
“Liam Coen’s attack has been carrying this team most of the year. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, when the youngry Buc defense rose to the occasion.”
December 8th, 2024 at 8:27 pm
Considering the last game and opponent, I think the juice was just fine.
December 8th, 2024 at 8:31 pm
Knothead71 I’m just messing with you. But you’re saying “I’ve said this from the time Baker got signed. He is the same QB as Winston. They are the same guy”. No matter what dude, you sound like a knothead.
December 8th, 2024 at 8:35 pm
#1 goal for rest of season is getting Mike his 1k yards. If we make the playoffs, ain’t going nowhere anyway
December 8th, 2024 at 8:36 pm
your not you’re. So I won’t sound like a knothead like knothead.
December 8th, 2024 at 8:43 pm
Chargers have beat one team with a winning record, the Broncos, all other wins are against teams with losing records. The only issue is traveling across the country.
December 8th, 2024 at 10:01 pm
Jason Licht has to be pretty proud of this rookie class. Barton, Bucky, Smith and finally McMillan making some plays. The defense has looked much better with Dean and McCollum on the field together and Tykee at nickel.
Baker is starting to worry me a little. Seems like if he has a turnover he has multiple turnovers. This will get us beaten badly against better teams.
December 8th, 2024 at 10:23 pm
@Beeej
Forcing the ball to Evans as he is coming off of an injury would probably mean that he will aggravate the injury and insure that he doesn’t reach 1,000 yards. Protect Evans as much as possible possible while trying to wrap up the division championship.
Winning the division is an accomplishment 75% of teams are unable to achieve each year. Of the 8 teams who look to win their respective divisions, only 5 look to last year’s division champions repeating as third year’s division champions.
That is a significant accomplishment in professional sports.
And, with the offense finally clicking and an opportunity to restock the defense in the draft, the Bucs may well be a much better team next year.
Not bad for a team that was predicted to descend into cap space Hell and total rebuilding mode upon the retirement of Tom Brady.
December 8th, 2024 at 10:33 pm
Chargers look pretty dam good to night in KC
December 8th, 2024 at 10:36 pm
Yea chargers going to be the toughest game we have left on the schedule
December 8th, 2024 at 11:50 pm
Chargers are gonna be tough but we match up well, we shouldn’t get bullied in the trenches by anyone in this league and that’s why we can play with anyone. Unfortunately LA has 2 big advantages… they got guys who can get the QB off the edge and a better HC.
December 9th, 2024 at 2:14 am
This game was too close for comfort. The Raiders show you cannot win without a QB in this league. O’connell should never start another NFL game after what I saw today. Ridder Should only be a third string emergency QB. Defense feasted on a horrible team without an NFL QB. Win is a win. Can’t wait to see how the bucs do on the west coast trip against a tough physical defense and a real NFL QB
December 9th, 2024 at 7:25 am
Great run-through!
Defense did rise up.
Hope we win again this Sunday! Making four in a row.
December 9th, 2024 at 8:30 am
Wow, the grammar police are out in force. I never noticed such high standards before. Usually, YOU’RE lucky if posters use punctuation. Btw, Kenton, YOU’RE wrong on both of YOUR grammatical criticisms. “Loaded vs loaded up?” Come on man. Po-tay-to. Puh-tah-to. Also, YOUR first “YOU’RE” was correct since YOU’RE contracting the second person pronoun “you” and the verb “are.” English can be tricky, especially for those learning it as a second language, so what’s (contration for “what” and “is”) YOUR excuse?
December 9th, 2024 at 9:09 am
I love Mike… lifetime Buc and HOF more than assured. But we should not be forcing things to get 1k yards. I strongly think he would say the same thing and mean it. We need to fine tune our offense that takes what we are given. Feels like we were holding out for deeper shots to Mike and the pass pro couldn’t hold out nearly long enough. If we needed to go to a quick passing game to mitigate the rush we should have done that and sooner. First time at Ray Jay and totally agree w Ira— no home crowd advantage whatsoever. Maybe we got out to that quick lead and thought we only had downside from there and therefore no enthusiasm??
December 9th, 2024 at 9:09 pm
Perhaps Bucs fans realize this isn’t a very good team and is in first place because the division is laughably bad? Winning ugly against poor teams shouldn’t fill fans with a ton of confidence.
December 10th, 2024 at 11:16 am
Knothead is a pinball machine today no mercy on this site tighten u r ship matey!
December 10th, 2024 at 11:18 am
Boktfan u r obviously on the wrong site ain’t no bolts here except the 1 between u r ears so tighten that bolt knot head
December 10th, 2024 at 11:21 am
Chibuc says,r u WOKE screw u r punctuation & grammar this b 2024 catch up to the rest of the poachers on this site