Bucs Beating Bucs
January 16th, 2025
Weighs in on Bucs’ errors.
Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians often used a now-famous phrase in his first Tampa Bay season when the team almost weekly did something dumb.
“Bucs beating Bucs,” Arians used to say.
Bucco Bruce was at the playoff game Sunday night. And after the Bucs lost a tough, close game, Joe has to believe Arians mumbled that phrase to himself once or twice.
Six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick had a similar thought about that game, shared during his regular appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” Belichick said the Bucs have to feel horrible because the Commandos didn’t so much to win; the Bucs beat the Bucs.
Former Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk — in one of his rare moments on the show when he wasn’t staring into a camera and smoking a cigar — asked Belichick if he saw dumb mistakes that hurt teams last weekend. Hawk noted most coaches beg players, once into the playoffs, not to make silly unforced mistakes and say “Don’t beat yourself.”
“A couple of these teams have to feel terrible,” Belichick replied. “Tampa, they fumble a handoff on a jet sweep-action play. That really didn’t have anything to do with the defense. Then they [butcher] another short-yardage play and screw up the handoff and get stopped and get held to a field goal.
“That didn’t have anything to do with Washington’s defense. It was just bad football.”
Belichick is right. Neither play happened because of spectacular play made by a Commandos defender. The Bucs’ effed up very simple, run-of-the-mill plays they otherwise execute dozens of times a game.
Losing the way the Bucs did, Belichick said, just eats away at coaches.
“Those are the kind of plays you look back on when your season ends that you say, ‘We really messed those up,’ Belichick said. “… Those kind of plays you feel like you beat yourself. They are hard to overcome when your season ends that way.”
That’s “handing the game away,” he added.
That’s sort of what happened on the jet-sweep fumble.
You know, like what Arians said.
Bucs beating Bucs.
January 16th, 2025 at 4:53 am
Belidunce lost so many games more than he won without Brady. So I would say he has a ton of experience losing games in every way imaginable. I’m sure he’s lost a bunch of games that he feels they gave them away. Problem there is you’re not giving the other team any credit for beating your butt. 1 or 2 mistakes didn’t beat us last game. The Washington Commanders beat us on both sides of the ball and we lost. Isn’t North Carolina paying this “legend”. I would think Belidunce has bigger fish to fry.
January 16th, 2025 at 5:36 am
That’s a common theme under Bowles. Dating back to the Rams last play of the game bomb in the playoffs.
Some coaches just can’t get their teams to get out of their own way.
January 16th, 2025 at 5:56 am
I am guessing Belichick knows how terrible the coaches, players, and fans feel since his last seasons without Brady/Gronk were not that great in NE.
January 16th, 2025 at 6:11 am
It’s more like Bowles Beating Bucs.
His detractors, of whom I consider myself one of many, have relayed his weaknesses, ad nauseam, so I’ll refrain from the redundancy since we’re stuck with him.
Oddly, both Gruden and Dungy were fired for less. Yet Bowles hangs on in a bad division.
With that, can we at least be given a new defensive coordinator? Please, just to shake things up. This “cover nobody” scheme is not working.
Give Bowles a headset and allow him to talk to himself during games, but a new D.C. is a must!
January 16th, 2025 at 6:22 am
The negativity in here is unreal. You people have no respect. Are your own lives really that miserable?
January 16th, 2025 at 7:17 am
Absolutely correct! Bucs beat the Bucs and both of those plays were on offense. Let that sink in. Both are play calls. Jet sweep inside your 15yd line AFTER D had a goal line stand. Many complain about the D BUT, it was 17-13 BUCS WITH the ball in the 4th. The next time the D got on the field, wasn’t after a kickoff or point. Nope, was defending 12 yds of field to a top 5 offense in the playoffs.
D wasnt as bad as people make it out to be. They held Washington well below their season average, but our offense was held too. 🤷🏿♂️
January 16th, 2025 at 7:17 am
^^What Senor Harry said^^
January 16th, 2025 at 8:01 am
Yea Bucs beating Bucs alright. But really, I think it doesn’t matter because who thinks that with this other worldly crappy defense we march into Philly and beat those guys. Yea i know we’ve beat them the past couple of times. We don’t win in Philly this Sunday with this defense.
January 16th, 2025 at 8:14 am
Lt. Dan , that’s basically my take. Gutted when we lost, but realistically we had run our course with this defenseless defense.
January 16th, 2025 at 8:48 am
Can we all agree that the prevailing issue dragging this team down is the defense?
If we can, then the logical thing to do next is correct the problem.
Instead, we all seem to be complaining about the same thing, but some don’t want to fix the actual problem.
We should not be willing to wait around and see if the same people causing the problem can fix it.
By any measure, there’s only one solution. Bowles must go now.
And if not, this conversation will be on repeat for years to come.
January 16th, 2025 at 8:59 am
Many, many reasons why we lost this game. But Belichick is right about the mental mistakes, the offense seemed tight and Barton made a mental mistake or two (maybe a late snap on the fumble?).
But, our defense isn’t good enough to win playoff games.
January 16th, 2025 at 9:18 am
Mayfield will have months of nightmares about those two plays…
January 16th, 2025 at 9:36 am
Senor Harry in Costa Rica Says:
January 16th, 2025 at 6:22 am
The negativity in here is unreal. You people have no respect. Are your own lives really that miserable?
===============================
Senor,
Solid observation. The answer is yes. LA is on fire and many people there have been wiped out; but, the sentiment here is that the HC is the devil incarnate. When attacks relent for a few days on the HC, then the QB, Mayfield, is the villain.
January 16th, 2025 at 9:52 am
Tip of the hat to the Joes, Ira, and Senor Harry in Costa Rica. Your recent articles have been excellent and Senor Harry makes a valid point.
Bucs fans should be grateful for a successful season. Is the glass half empty or half full?
January 16th, 2025 at 9:58 am
Find a way to keep Coen, get some pass rush help in FA, go defense heavy in the draft. Bucs kept me entertained well into January, which is a whole lot better than October. Should be an interesting offseason.
January 16th, 2025 at 9:58 am
Mayfield isn’t having nightmares about two plays, he’s waking up in cold sweats screaming give me the ball Todd Bowles. Jayden Daniels is a rookie ok great he can run and he’s pretty accurate but it’s absolutely embarrassing when you can’t make him punt and that was their head coaches goal. A head coach with a plan wow
January 16th, 2025 at 10:23 am
All the bs aside, it was the offense that fumbled the game!
January 16th, 2025 at 10:45 am
I totally agree that we beat ourselves with the two play Belichick mentioned.
I give Washington credit bc they came in with a great game plan and kept the ball away from the Bucs offense. All those 3rd and shorts converted then going for it on 4th down so many times.
Now let’s try to keep Liam Coen and get ready for the draft.
January 16th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
Yeah, for whatever the reason they rarely ever seem ‘ready’ to play at HOME. No matter who they play, especially when coming off of a big win. It’s just a lack of focus & that comes from the top. You don’t LOSE that game (as ‘favorites’) at HOME. You just CANNOT. That’s a game where your “Franchise QB” HAS TO come through in the end, too! I mean, I’m not ‘crying’ over it or anything (in deep sorrow), because I expected it (same old – nothing new). BUT, it is VERY disappointing. We blew an unbelievable opportunity there, at potentially stealing another Super Bowl Appearance (and possibly a NFC Championship Game at HOME). It was all there for the taking with the way this season played out. Wasted.
January 16th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
It is very strange how some people always run to immediately attack others, who say even the ‘slightest thing’ that could be considered negative towards the Bucs, no matter how true it may be. On literally, everything. No matter how right or wrong I they might be. It’s really no difference than a highly ‘partisan’ person.
January 16th, 2025 at 12:23 pm
It was the defense, it was the defense they screamed.
Not so fast said Gruden and Bellicheck and anyone else who didn’t have their head up their butt.
January 16th, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Yup, spot on.
We had every chance to win the game, but the offense chat all over itself
January 16th, 2025 at 12:38 pm
ballhawk75
I think we ALL agree the defense needs to improve. Some of us just see that the offense is not as dominant as y’all think and needs to be better, more consistent. Offense was statistically great but that does not tell the whole story.
pewterpower
We’ve been thru this repeatedly. We held them on downs twice. That’s more impressive than forcing a punt. The offense had equal opportunities as their offense in spite of the whining about no punts. They screwed the pooch. It happens.
January 16th, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Folks forget that Belichick built a playoff team in Cleveland, with Vinny Testaverde at quarterback. The Browns cleaned house when they went to Baltimore. He was a good coach before Brady.
January 16th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
larrd
Without Brady, he had ONE winning season, almost thirty freaking years ago!
That said, he is correct that the offense had two bad plays at critical times.
They’re easy to see, and they did effect the game.
Of course, they weren’t the only bad plays by either team, on offense or defense, It’s the “critical time” factor that makes them noticeable.
Mind you, there were at least half a dozen bad or blown calls by the officiating crew that had a considerably larger impact on the outcome of the game.
But we’re not supposed to notice, or talk about that!
January 16th, 2025 at 3:52 pm
It’s going to take some time before me, just a Bucs fan, can get over this loss. But it seems like the more I talk about it the more I get over it but yeah ….. the Buccaneers beat the Buccaneers!! Had we not started flat on offense, and not fumbled the ball away ….. Bucs win !! No doubt !!
Still love my Bucs !!
January 16th, 2025 at 6:48 pm
Sounds like lacking of focus and preparation, which is coaching.