Buccaneers 27, San Francisco 9
November 25th, 2018
Fun fact, your Buccaneers have more passing touchdowns than the high-flying Rams, and they’ve got the fourth-most in the NFL. … And today they upped their record to 4-7.
The Bucs are one strange team.
Today it was good strange, as the Bucs recorded their first easy victory of the season. Vita Vea, Jameis Winston, there were many shining lights.
How bout Vea against a good 49ers offensive line! Vea had a little early success and seemed energized on his way to four solo tackles, a sack and three tackles for loss. Again, this is a highly-respected Niners line.
The Bucs defense had a good pass rush all day and got the tonic they desperately needed in a very inexperienced quarterback, Nick Mullens, along with his depleted receiving corps. Mullens completed less than 50 percent of his passes, which feels like a world record around these parts.
The Bucs were balanced and steady on offense as Jameis spread the ball around — six guys caught three passes or more — and didn’t give away the ball once.
This is the way it was supposed to be this season in many ways (except for the one-third-empty stadium). The Bucs were going to win games on talent and basic execution, including field goals and extra points.
Too little, too late. But it still feels awfully good.
Kudos to Mike Evans for busting 1,000 yards for the fifth consecutive season, and to Jason Pierre-Paul for cracking the 10 sacks ceiling for the season (see home page story). Ryan Smith and Isaiah Johnson even hauled in the Bucs’ second and third interceptions of the season. Any total more than three for the year will keep the Bucs out of the record books.
Stick with Joe for plenty out of this game, including Ira Kaufman’s 10 takeaways column.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:12 pm
Jamies is a $20 million dollar quarterback when he doesn’t turn the ball over and a $25 million dollar quarterback when he can connect with Djax on the DEEP pass. Sign Jamies 5th year option
November 25th, 2018 at 4:12 pm
Remember the Niners are tanking tho
November 25th, 2018 at 4:17 pm
FINALLY.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:20 pm
1/3 empty stadium? Were those the stick carriers in protest or the people expected to cheer for the draft pick? The playoff run?
November 25th, 2018 at 4:20 pm
Vea sure didn’t look like a bust today……
November 25th, 2018 at 4:23 pm
Gonna take a lot more of this to change my mind. I’m no fool, I’ve been around for over twenty years now. You can’t fool me. Remind me again who Tampa plays next?
November 25th, 2018 at 4:24 pm
Yes but it was against another bad team. But ohh well. Go Bucs.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:24 pm
These are the times that I love to be proven WRONG. Jameis was crisp and SHARP, today. Excellent, complete game by the Bucs, and nice to see even if they were playing a god awful team today. Jameis has always been good enough to get you these kinds of games, and bad enough to follow up this kind of game by going 23-40 with 3 picks. Please for the love of god be CONSISTENT. The “haters” will cheer by playing smart and mistake free.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:25 pm
We are going to rise out of the ashes like a phoenix.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:27 pm
Teams tanking for a draft pick are brain dead.
Realize that 50% of all first rounders fail to live up to expectations and most bust. So right from the get go you are saddled with some bad odds.
There are the occasional generational players that require a top 2 or three pick and even they are no guarantee but it was hard to not imagine Saquaon Barkley being worth his pick.
It’s not WHERE you pick…it’s WHO you pick. If we must shore something up it’s not our draft position…it’s the scouts who contribute to the WHO we pick.
Playing to lose is for LOSERS!!! And we wonder why we have a culture problem of losing here? It starts with FANS. There have been folks here calculating draft position for the past three or four games. Yeah that’s the ticket…let’s see how many games we can lose to enhance that loser mentality all so we can get a couple of spots higher in a lottery with a 50-50 chance of success.
Do we not believe this game can perhaps provide a little confidence? Yeah it’s the Niners and not the Rams…so what!
Nobody is claiming this will start a run to the playoffs but winning has to start somewhere. We did a LOT of good things today including…PROTECTING THE FOOTBALL and getting a turnover of our own!!!
November 25th, 2018 at 4:35 pm
Give Koetter and Licht credit today. Team had a goal line stand. Vea, JPP, Curry, Nasib, and Carlton made plays besides the interceptions mentioned above.
Jameis looked good, talented and smart.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:38 pm
49ers would be lucky to win a pillow fight.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:43 pm
the vea sighting was super coo!
November 25th, 2018 at 4:53 pm
Vea proved today he is no bust. He is just finding his wings. He was stopping runs in the backfield, got a sack, and played hard nosed DT football. Not to mention he helped the Bucs stop the 49ers two yards from the end zone three times in a row. Jameis at last took what the defense gave him and got over 300 yards and had no interceptions or fumbles, and got time in the pocket, and ran when all his receivers were covered. The defense improved as well with JPP breaking the record for sacks for the Bucs going back to our Super Bowl Days and Simeon Rice. Our Defense held the 49ers for the first time this year from any touchdowns. We also got two interceptions. We dominated! Hopefully this will give us some momentum for our hard games ahead.
November 25th, 2018 at 5:04 pm
Am I the only one here who can confess to some prejudice.
When you see little white guys like Hump you have a lot of doubts. But I’m beginning to believe Hump might be the most underrated player on this team. Not the best but the least respected considering his production.
And are we all falling in love with Nassib?
November 25th, 2018 at 5:18 pm
error free today and a good outcome against a good defensive team with a below average offense no turnovers no complaints here
November 25th, 2018 at 5:19 pm
Olykat
Sorry, but the 49rs…..did get a TD….missed the extra point..
November 25th, 2018 at 5:35 pm
Congratulations Bucs, congratulations Jameis.
Keep it up.
November 25th, 2018 at 6:25 pm
Aren’t higher draft pics much more important the wins that don’t matter as the bucs are NOT going to the playoffs? Bucs need a lot more talent on the roster. When the bucs should loose and move up to top 3 in the draft they mess it up… It’s a bucs life!!
November 25th, 2018 at 7:40 pm
No LVD no Kwon And with old man grimes GJ TB defense stepped it up today
November 25th, 2018 at 8:14 pm
Thanks Tampabayfan for the correction.
November 25th, 2018 at 8:51 pm
Ben
You answered your own question.
“Bucs need a lot more talent on the roster.”
Yes and no matter how many we lose we still get the same number of draft picks. ONE of those picks has a 62% chance of adding to our talent if we take them in the top ten…it falls quickly after that.
But yes you’re right we need a LOT more talent and after the 2nd round the record for ALL NFL teams is not that great. The draft is a giant crapshoot promoted by ESPN, GM’s and all the others who benefit enormously from making it so important…far beyond reality.
And so here is the legitimate question for you Ben as I agree with you we need a lot more talent. And so in 2015 what kind of a haul of draft picks would we have had if we had traded down from that #1 pick? Four more players?
Hard to find a real franchise QB though so we rolled the dice. Time will tell if we made our point or not.
November 25th, 2018 at 10:29 pm
Bucs fans who want to tank are like the Sandbaggers in golf. If you don’t know what that means google the term………..sandbaggers in golf. It’s not a compliment.