Bucs Get An “A” Grade
September 22nd, 2015
In the first week of the season, John Breech of CBS Sports rightly gave the Bucs an “F” grade for their pathetic performance against the Titans.
My, how much a difference a week makes.
After notching their first win against NFC South division foes. the Saints and Drew Brees on the road, Breech breaks out the “A” grade for the Bucs.
The Bucs might not deserve an ‘A,’ but they get bonus points for coming off a 42-14 loss with a win in Jameis Winston’s first road start. The decision to go with Kyle Brindza at kicker paid off for Tampa. The rookie hit four field goals, including a 55-yarder.
Where this team goes from here, who knows. Was the win an anomaly against a team circling the drain? Or was this win a spark of better things to come?
Joe’s prediction of six wins is still very much in play.
September 22nd, 2015 at 5:42 am
Sweep the division…..Win the division!!!
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:12 am
8-8 is coming!
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:23 am
Too bad we aren’t in the NFC east. I’d say we could win the division.
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:27 am
Where are all those trade down for Leonard Williams people? Did you see kid getting man handled last night? Thank you Mr. Glazer,15 years from now folks round here will have seen the benefit of taking a QB over a D linemen. Just wait on it.
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:38 am
when our O-Line blocks well we win games
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:52 am
All we need is each of our opponents qb’s to have torn rotator cuffs lol
September 22nd, 2015 at 7:07 am
If Loser Lovie ditches the turtle offense he will have my full support. This whole playing not to lose approach is what cost teams wins
September 22nd, 2015 at 7:37 am
take care of the home games at least and we’ll be in this thing…”simple as that”…
September 22nd, 2015 at 8:41 am
I’m sticking with my 4-12 prediction, but would very much love to be wrong.
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:05 am
Some Bucs fans need more convincing outside the level of improvement from game one to game two. The Saints have been dumped on like they totally suck, so therefore the win against them was less than newsworthy. Yawn! That was a big win the Bucs held on to seeing how rare a sighting is of any win for this team. Joe, I’ll see your six wins and raise you one.
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:19 am
@ Nole
I’m one of the “trade down for Leonard” crowd and still here. Come on man you’re gonna say Williams is a dud over one game…that makes you as bad as the people who called Winston a bust after his disastrous week one outing (the ones you like to call out!). Too early to know if any of these rookies will be good or busts. Just be glad the players and coaches used the week one swift kick in the balls to come out prepared and fired up against NO. It still doesn’t erase the blowout loss, but it’s progress and a ray of hope for the fanbase to at least celebrate for one week.
September 22nd, 2015 at 10:08 am
The Bucs got an A because it’s being graded on a scale…and Prisco sucks too. He gave New England a B+ even as their victory was much more thorough and dominant than the Bucs.
September 22nd, 2015 at 10:09 am
An “A+” for Brindza! “B” for the D.
But Im still not sold. If it hadnt been for Brindza and the turnovers created from the D, we lose to (probably the bottom team) of the NFC this year. Call me once bitten twice shy, or 100 times bitten…its still Lovie and Im just not sure of whats coming next. At least we “Might” have some decent edge rush in Smith…..we all know the state of the Saints O line so lets see him against a good one.
Im looking forward to the Dallas game, a little ways off, but that O line will reveal us.
Now to see how we do against a pretty good D in Houston.
September 22nd, 2015 at 10:48 am
“If it hadnt been for Brindza and the turnovers created from the D, we lose to (probably the bottom team) of the NFC this year. Call me once bitten twice shy, or 100 times bitten…its still Lovie and Im just not sure of whats coming next.”
Lovie is coaching the emphasis on turnovers, so could it be that Lovie’s philosophy worked? Still way to early to tell, but you can’t say the defense is bailing Lovie out when that has been his coaching philosophy the entire time.
September 22nd, 2015 at 10:51 am
I’m on the record for ten wins out of a team I believe has 8-8 talent. Like Bonzai I believe we’re going to be tough the second half of the season.
I needed us to go 2-2 through the first four and we’re back on track. The schedule is simply not that tough and I based my prediction in part on N.O. having an off year…losing both Graham and Junior Gallette…cap hell due to Brees contract…but having said that they are still an NFL team with an HOF QB and great coach…a team that gave AZ…pundits picking them to make the SB…a great game on the road. No the Saints are not what they used to be but that win Sunday was still great.
My biggest fear in the division was Atlanta and Dan Quinn. So far that fear has only grown. The Dixie Chicks MAY be the real deal. It’s still early. Panthers are good not great…just hoping for a split with these guys.
Love to win in Houston…tough..they’re desperate and at home…the game I really want to hit my mythical 2-2 mark is Carolina at home the following week.
Win that and we are in great position..2-2 and 2-0 in the Division with our split with Carolina guaranteed.
September 22nd, 2015 at 11:26 am
#7423 makes a great point: it does all start in the trenches. A decent performance by the OL will give Winston some time and then he can make things happen and it will also help open up that running game and give the foundation of a balanced attack. On the defensive side of the trench; well we saw what a bit of pressure could do to a seasoned veteran like Brees. It was good to see that in the Dome; hopefully this will become the norm and not be an aberration like the Bucs beat down of the Skins last season…. I’m with Joe on a good shot at 6 wins if this team can ever get a ****ing win at home right now; the team looked good though the vanilla offense down the stretch almost “prevented” the win… I was in the 4 to 6 win range before the Titan game but thought the team could get by the Titans and definitely thought week 2 was an L; goes to remind us fans that “On any given Sunday” anything is possible…. Imagine how much coin someone could have won it they parlayed the Bucs, Skins, Jags and Raiders??? So that being said lets no simply expect an L in Houston: at 0-2 they may be desperate but weren’t we saying the same thing about the Saints this time last week????
September 22nd, 2015 at 11:43 am
lol nothing in the NFL makes sense. Think about this for a second…
People have the Arizona Cardinals as a top 3 NFL team and potential SB pick in power rankings now.
People have the New Orleans Saints as a bottom 3 NFL team and potential #1 overall pick winner.
The Saints hung with the Cardinals week 1 all game AT Arizona. Anyone watching that game did not come away thinking “Man the Saints Suck and Arizona is SB bound”.
Pretty funny what an effect losing to the Bucs can have lol. We are still ranked behind seven 0-2 teams. And honestly I don’t fault the rankers. We need to prove that wasn’t a fluke effort & victory.
September 22nd, 2015 at 12:11 pm
I had the Titans game marked down as a win for the Bucs and the Saints as a loss.
So I’m still on track for 5-11
September 22nd, 2015 at 12:23 pm
Robert99 Says:
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:52 am
“All we need is each of our opponents qb’s to have torn rotator cuffs lol”
LOL I was waiting for someone to point that out. However it came from you, the 1/2 a Bucs fan so I won’t give any props. I’ll just laugh. I thought about that yesterday when no one was mentioning it in here.
Yesterday they were saying it was only bruised. He sure was capable of those 2 launches at the end of the game just fine.