National Naysayers
November 30th, 2016
Plenty of split thoughts on the Bucs
Booooo.
Hearing national types shoot down the Bucs’ shot at glory just makes Joe want to throw more darts at the Sabby The Goat posters at JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters, or defecate on a Drew Brees jersey.
Former Texans and Redskins general manager Charley Casserly and top NFL reporter Mike Garofolo were spouting on NFL Network about how the Bucs are not playoff contenders. (Video here).
Casserly thinks the Saints will be “the kiss of death” for Tampa Bay, and Garofolo says he’s a “doubter” in the face of a lot of people telling him he should believe in the Bucs.
At least some of those folks are at NFL.com, where the Around The NFL crew is on the Bucs’ bandwagon.
Once a roaming disaster, Tampa’s defense has given up just 10.7 point per game since Week 10. Meanwhile, quarterback Jameis Winston has grown into a respected leader with plenty up his sleeve.
Three straight wins has Tampa back in the playoff picture as the NFC’s seventh seed, with remaining bouts against the Chargers, Saints, Cowboys, Saints and Panthers. The Bucs’ best hope for playoff football is a Redskins collapse paired with a sweep of New Orleans (5-6), which would destroy any playoff hopes for Sean Payton’s club.We refuse to take the Eagles (5-6), Cardinals (4-6-1) or Panthers (4-7) seriously, barring a sudden uprising from one of these wayward operations.
Joe still believes the Bucs’ best shot is winning the division. They sit one game back of Atlanta and are on solid footing with tiebreakers. Unfortunately, Joe is wary of the Saints, too. That’s a rough matchup for the Bucs, especially to knock them off twice.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:09 am
From Buccanners.com – for all of you GMC trolls. Oh, and getting sacks is not his primary job, but I know you live and dye by stats – so here you go fools:
“According to Statspass, McCoy leads all NFL defensive tackles in sacks since the start of the 2013 campaign.
Most Sacks, NFL Defensive Tackles, 2013-16
Player, Team(s) Sacks
1. Gerald McCoy, Buccaneers 32.5
2. Aaron Donald, Rams 26
3. Jurrell Casey, Titans 25.5
4. Ndamukong Suh, Lions/Dolphins 25
5. Geno Atkins, Bengals 24.5”
November 30th, 2016 at 10:10 am
I don’t blame them one bit. We haven’t been in the playoffs for 9 years, and even though we had 2 great victories back to back, our history suggests we will fail. I hope every single analyst says we are pretenders. That’s just more ammo for us.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:10 am
Rams and Raiders…. damnitohell!
November 30th, 2016 at 10:13 am
Seriously though when is the last time the Bucs had 3 straight wins? That’s outstanding!!! Great job team!!!
As for wins/losses I’m not trying to jinx anything.
As for me and my house we shall Rejoice! And have faith for the Messiah shall lead us to the promise land.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:13 am
Hawaiian is right. We haven’t earned respect yet. We’ve earned attention, not respect. We have more games to win before they start believing at a national level.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:20 am
74 – Nice stat. Gotta keep in mind Donald was a rook in 2014 and is playing on a vastly underperforming D line this year.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:23 am
Agree with Hawaiian and Patrick.
We’ll be in “prove it” mode for a while. And deservedly so.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:27 am
@Bucsfaninchina – If you’re going to give a pass to Donald for playing on a vastly underperforming D line, then you better be giving GMC that same pass during years past.
We have a bad habit in this fan base (I’m not sure if it’s just us because I’m not a part of other fan bases) of either adding context or removing it from conversations when it serves to paint the Bucs in a worse light. We knock our players for getting stats in garbage time of games or against weak offenses, but then compare them to other players without adding those caveats on how those players got those stats.
Just trying to keep it fair.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:35 am
Beat the Chargers in San Diego and more people will start to buy in.
As for me. One game at a time. I’ve been a Bucs fan since the 80s, Im not going anywhere and my allegiance doesnt depend on wins or the prospect of playoffs. It does make loving the Bucs all that more exciting though.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:36 am
Its a valiant effort Patrick In Va but you can’t bring logic to the anti GMC crowd. They have created their own false narrative and are going to stick with it in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Its become a religion for these guys.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:40 am
JOES is 100% right on this……we gotta win the division
November 30th, 2016 at 10:43 am
Beat the Chargers next week. That’s all that matters.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:48 am
Regarding the anti-GMC crowd, it’s relatively mild.
I’ve been in Tampa since 1992 and love it here. But I spent the first 31 years of my life living in NYC and Philly. If you wanted to see hate, you should have lived in Philadelphia during the Buddy Ryan years.
Anyone that makes a lot of money on a bad team is going to get this kind of scrutiny.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:49 am
@Dreambig – It’s a practice that is often used for everyone on the team. Whether it’s talking about GMC, Jameis, overall defensive or offensive performance. It’s an approach that’s used all the time and it’s disheartening to know that this is how our team’s fan base treats them. It’s one of those things where you say that with friends like these, who needs enemies.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:55 am
I like being under the radar and teams not taking us seriously….. more fuel for the fire i say, if this team keeps playing like they have and believing in themselves and the team ……watch out.
p.s. there are a few teams over the years that can see through our zone coverage and pick us apart almost at will and the Saints are one, a little worried, but as long as we stay healthy and get our run game going we should have few worries.
p.s. p.s. Jamies first win came against the Saints
November 30th, 2016 at 10:59 am
Go Bucs,
However the bucs are NOT on solid footing for divisional tie breakers. Assuming ATL wins all div games those dirty birds still have us beat in common games tiebreaker. Unless I’m missing something I believe our best chance is through the wild card. If someone could spell out why I’m wrong I would love to be enlightened.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:19 am
1 game at a time. I agree with what HB and others have said. Let’s earn this sh1t.
I’ll just keep hoping the Bucs win every week and that someone beats Atlanta. Atlanta’s been hot but they still don’t have a great D
November 30th, 2016 at 11:25 am
McCoy has missed some games as well and our line is finally getting healthier.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:28 am
I’m worried about the Chargers game right now. It’s a long flight and Rivers can carve up a secondary easily with his quick release. This is a Drew Brees type QB and I respect his abilities. If he’s solid in this game and we don’t get pressure again there’s going to be trouble.
One game at a time – and this next game is going to very tough to win.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:29 am
On the McCoy stuff. It’s almost as bad as the mud slinging from the election. He’s their guy. He’s not going anywhere. Those that don’t like him are just going to have to deal with it. Shut up already.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:36 am
Hawaiian Buc Says
“I don’t blame them one bit. We haven’t been in the playoffs for 9 years, and even though we had 2 great victories back to back, our history suggests we will fail. I hope every single analyst says we are pretenders. That’s just more ammo for us.”
Hawaiian nails it again!
Frankly, I hope the same thing…and I hope hearing about this fires up the players so that they come against the Saints like wild animals.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:39 am
Just saw on ESPN power rankings they actually have us 14th and cited a sad stat lol:
Bucs haven’t been 2 games over .500 since 2012. I’d use that as motivation this week
November 30th, 2016 at 11:39 am
You just never know which Philip rivers is going to show up. He can look like a pro bowler one week, and throw mind boggling interceptions the next. The Chargers typically play pretty good in December though regardless, so this will probably be a challenging game for us. I’m thinking about grabbing some tickets and going.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:44 am
I’ll be honest, and I don’t think most people will like what I have to say…
But to an extent, I agree with them. Although we’re currently in a position to make the playoffs, I wouldn’t call us playoff contenders yet. This season, we’re still trying to find ourselves and become better as a TEAM. So far, we’ve done a great job in that aspect.
But, to me, a playoff contender would’ve found a way to beat the
St. LouisLos Angeles Rams and the Oakland Raiders at home.This is the year for team building and growing. Next year, when we add some more weapons for Jameis and fix our defensive backfield, is when I’d consider us playoff contenders.
Not a fair comparison due to the fact that Donald wasn’t even in the league in 2013. A better stat would be how many sacks since the most recent player has been in the league, which would be 2014.
The Messiah can only lead us to the promised land if his defensive disciple GMC can keep the other team from scoring more than we score. If you believe in one, you must believe in all. 😛
[Just a little get-back from your earlier post.]
I think the line of thinking here is that we have a better chance of overtaking Atlanta for the division lead (we’re only one game back with 5 games to play) vs trying to get in as a wildcard team.
That would mean that Atlanta has to lose 2 more games than we lose between now and the end of the season.
There is also another scenario where we can win the tie-breaker with Atlanta if it comes down to divisional record.
As per NFL.com on tie breakers within a division:
There are obviously more tiebreakers than that (12 total), but those are the first 2, just to give you an idea of how we can win the division.
November 30th, 2016 at 12:05 pm
The Chargers are no slouch for sure. They lost a lot of games early they should have won and are probably more like a 8-5 type team than 6-7
But if we can do that to the Seahawks & RW well sh1t.
RW’s o-line was bad but the guy is very mobile. There were probably 4-5 plays that would have been sacks if it was Rivers back there instead of RW; as crazy as that sounds considering RW was sacked so much lol.
Rivers o-line is better but I don’t think they’re that great? Either way the Seahawks were only down 1 o-lineman in the game against us; and were lighting it up the 3 prior weeks with mostly the same offensive cast
November 30th, 2016 at 12:14 pm
We are 1 game behind the falcons and like .5 behind the redskins and I feel like there’s a better chance of them collapsing than the electrifying offense of the falcons.
Regardless I think that realistically we can probably expect to lose to the Cowboys and split with the saints. ending at 9-7 (which is better than I expected coming in to this year)
This means either the Falcons or Redskins have to drop 3 games over the same span. That is unlikely.
The Bucs must overachieve again and somehow make 10-6 if they want a shot, if this happens the falcons would need to lose 2 more games this year however I can only see a potential loss to the saints in a shootout. Whereas the likelihood of the Redskins losing 2 is much higher (Cards, Eagles, Panther, Bears, Giants) Idk about you guys but I can see two losses coming from that schedule
November 30th, 2016 at 1:23 pm
Like others have said we need to take it one game at a time. The Chargers are a good team. If the def can play as tenaciously as the Seattle game then we will win. I just hope we dont squander the 3rd and short opportunities like we had in the Seattle game. I just hope coach puts the ball in JW hands like he did in the KC game.
November 30th, 2016 at 1:24 pm
Not even mad. They’ve earned the doubt. Just gotta keep winning. Go Bucs
November 30th, 2016 at 1:35 pm
Evolving – this defense is very different than any Bucs defense Drew has seen, but did he see it in ATL. It almost seems Smih let the D.C. There have allot of control, or he did not have the right players. The last here weeks looked like Smith’s in JAX. I agree to an extant, but only because you cannot count Breeze out just yet. If the Bucs hears him like they did Wilson TB will win. The Saints live and die with Breeze.
November 30th, 2016 at 1:46 pm
It’s going to be awfully tough to win two against Saints & beat Carolina to close out the season. I love the direction the Bucs are headed in but only cautiously optimistic of a win-out scenario.
November 30th, 2016 at 1:58 pm
Two types of people badmouth Gerald McCoy. Jealous folk who are fans of other teams…and idiots. “Which one are you?” if you talk smack about McCoy? The real dialog is McCoy should not be leading the team in sacks, but that’s probably going to change in the few weeks here are Ayers and Spence roll with Gerald being their chief enabler….no accomplice! He’ll end up with 9 or 10 sacks and someone else will probably tie him. 3 sacks total or more coming Sunday in SD.
November 30th, 2016 at 2:02 pm
I almost drove off an overpass last night when I heard NFL Sirius talking head yakking about what it feels like to be a head a head coach and lose to a bad football team LIKE PETE CARROLL FELT THIS WEEKEND IN HIS LOSS IN TAMPA! These clowns just don’t get it. Fine! Let the Bucs get a win in SD and what gives. As for the Saints? Not worried. Drew Brees is only 4’7″ and is 86 years old. The Bucs usually play him well, so it will be tough game but the Saints are not to be feared per se–only respected.
November 30th, 2016 at 2:08 pm
Mccoy gets a lot more press than most fragile part time players…. He will have another book boo by halftime of chargers game
November 30th, 2016 at 2:10 pm
DB55 Says:
November 30th, 2016 at 10:13 am
As for me and my house we shall Rejoice! And have faith for the Messiah shall lead us to the promise land.
The Messiah can only lead us to the promised land if his defensive disciple GMC can keep the other team from scoring more than we score. If you believe in one, you must believe in all. 😛
[Just a little get-back from your earlier post.]
————–
Take note sheeple, this is how you disagree with one another. Notice no name-calling or rude remarks. Just logic accompanied by facts. Ok you are now dismissed.
November 30th, 2016 at 2:24 pm
celly says:
“If you believe in one, you must believe in all.”
Nominating for JBF Quote of the year.
Jameis approves this message
November 30th, 2016 at 2:55 pm
GO BUCS!!
FANS DO YOR PART—SUPPORT THE TEAM
SCREW THE MEDIA WE GET NO LOVE FROM ANY OF THEM EVEN THAT MOOSE IDIOT WHEN WE SPANKED THE SEA DUCKS
ARE THE BUCS STILL GROWING YES
BUT LETS WHOOP SOME A$$
November 30th, 2016 at 4:28 pm
Logic would say the Bucs should beat the Chargers. Just based off of the Bucs three game winning streak. Play as well as in those games and I can’t see any way the Bucs lose this game. Yet there is still a tinge of doubt floating around. There is no excuse not to win this game. Stay the course and increase the booty of wins. Failure is an unthinkable option.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:17 pm
I am selling too. Although I disagree that playing on the road is not a disadvantage to the Bucs, in fact might be an advantage. They could split with the Saints, beat the Panthers, but also must beat the Cowboys and Chargers. It is a rough road. Next year guys will be a playoff year.