Pride Is An 8-Point Underdog
December 10th, 2018
BY IRA KAUFMAN
It’s closing time for the 2018 Bucs, so belly up to the bar and drink in these morsels.
With 10 teams in the NFC sporting better records, the Bucs are done in terms of the playoff chase. That makes 11 consecutive years without postseason play, encompassing three general managers, five head coaches and about 20,000 supporters turned apathetic.
Had Tampa Bay held onto that 14-3 halftime lead and swept the Saints, the rest of this season would have been very interesting at 6-7.
Instead, the Bucs will head to Baltimore with their playoff aspirations put on hold for yet another year.
“For me, it’s simple,” says Adam Humphries. “We still have a lot to play for. We represent the logo on our helmet and we represent the name on the back of our jersey. Whatever our record is or whatever
outside people are saying, we’ve got to fight for what we represent and put our best foot forward, regardless of circumstances.”
The Bucs have dropped five in a row on the road after that Week 1 shocker at the Superdome and awful defense has been the primary culprit. Coming off a bitter OT loss in Kansas City but still hunting down Pittsburgh for the AFC North crown, the Ravens boast one of the league’s most physical defenses.
This will be quite a test for an offensive line that failed to meet the challenge yesterday, when Jameis Winston led the Bucs in rushing for the second consecutive week.
He also took a pounding, absorbing four sacks and 10 hits.
Blame Game
This was a tale of two halves.
“I don’t think one play messed up the whole game,” said Demar Dotson, referring to the third-quarter blocked punt that revived the Saints from their lethargy.
“That was a momentum switch, but we could have bounced back. Instead, we let them off the hook. Our defense played well, but we put them in a lot of bad situations. Let’s face it … we let a good team get away.”
You can’t overstate the effect of that blocked punt.
For example, the Saints had rushed 11 times for 5 yards before Taysom Hill broke free up the middle and smothered Bryan Anger’s kick. Assuming possession at the Tampa Bay 30, Mark Ingram immediately broke off right tackle for 11 yards. Ingram then gained 4 yards and two plays later, Alvin Kamara went around left end for 7 yards.
Next snap, touchdown.
“That blocked punt was huge,” said Cameron Brate. “There’s something about a blocked punt that gets a team going, even more so than an interception or fumble. But there were other plays we failed to make, too. Winning 14-3, we had a forced fumble and a short field and we come up with zero points. We score a touchdown there and they really would have been dead in the water.”
Pride On The Move?
The Bucs were limited to only 81 yards in the second half as their six possessions ended in four punts (including one block), a missed FG try and a turnover.
“We were terrible, we couldn’t get anything going,” Brate said. “Give them credit, they challenged us as an offense and we didn’t have it today. The second half was tough to be a part of — embarrassing.”
What now?
When you fail to meet team goals, you have to turn inward and look at the man in the locker room mirror.
“Every guy is playing for his livelihood,” Dotson said. “No matter what the record looks like, you continue to fight and play for your individual pride.”
We’re about to find out how pride travels. At the moment, pride is an 8-point underdog.
JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman is in his 40th year covering the NFL. “The Sage of Tampa Bay Sports” is also a TV star, seen weekly on the FOX-13 Tailgate Sunday show, and on Bay News 9. Also, Ira goes national every Wednesday at 5 p.m. on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio with iconic host Chris Russo. The Ira Kaufman Podcast pops here every Tuesday and Thursday, and Ira fires away with Derrick Brooks on TAMPA TWO, a production of The Identity Tampa Bay and JoeBucsFan.com.
December 10th, 2018 at 4:41 pm
An angry Raven defense at home vs an anxious Winston could spell disaster. The Bucs could very easily lose out from here…
December 10th, 2018 at 4:50 pm
Adam Humphries will have a great off-season: He’ll get paid and get the chance to get away from the career-killing team.
Go Adam! You are free!!!
December 10th, 2018 at 4:58 pm
I know 3 o-linemen I would like to see play their last games in this town.
December 10th, 2018 at 5:24 pm
The Bucs were limited to only 81 yards in the second half as their six possessions ended in four punts (including one block), a missed FG try and a turnover.
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think about that for a second…..
now does that sound like the #1 offense to anyone!!!!!!!….lol…..
the folks that keep talking about dirk should stay because we have the #1 offense are out of their damn mind…….
a #1 offense isnt limited to 81yards in 2quarters with 6 possessions…..4 punts and a block punt….missed kicks…..
yeah lets keep dirk so we can have more of this….lol….
lets get down 28-0 vs the ravens and lose 35-28 so we can keep the HC that has produced the #1 offense…..lol…
KRIS RICHARD 4 HC!!!!!
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!…#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
December 10th, 2018 at 5:29 pm
is @realist still quoting U-HAULS & PENSKE trucks for the staff?…..
havent heard from him in a while…..lol….moving is a tough job…..lol…
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!…#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
December 10th, 2018 at 5:39 pm
These guys are completely pathetic and it’s all lip service. They’re basically saying one play lost them the game. Really you let a blocked punt steal your pride? It didn’t have to snowball if they weren’t so mentally weak and soft. Get em outta here
December 10th, 2018 at 5:44 pm
813 People been talking up this #1 offense all year.
It didn’t matter that we were getting blown out for entire Half’s back then. It won’t matter now.
So long as they have a stat sheet to tell them we are #1 they are more then happy.
December 10th, 2018 at 5:57 pm
The narritive of if we had a average defense we would be a playoff team just got proven wrong yesterday.
That’s because this precious #1 offense is overrated.
You can’t convert stats and ranking into wins. It doesnt work that way.
December 10th, 2018 at 5:58 pm
I smell a royal ass-whooping in Baltimore….and bye bye Dirk if it happens.
December 10th, 2018 at 6:08 pm
Calling in now!!!!!!
T. SUGGS has a career day making D-Bag. Smith look like a complete b*tch.
Ravens get right with a dominating win.
Baltimore: 31
Bucs: 17 (including 7 points in garbage time).
#lichtmyb*lls
Go Sucs!
December 10th, 2018 at 6:11 pm
1.) Bruce Arians
2.) Dan Campbell
3.) Ron Rivera
4.) John DeFillipo
5.) John Harbaugh
6.) Jack De Rio
7.) Lincoln Kennedy
8.) Chris Peterson
9.) David Shaw
10.) Mike McCarthy
December 10th, 2018 at 6:35 pm
This is gonna be a beat down in bmore and flacco has lit the bucs up before, might be playing. This might be a 41-10 beat down in freezing bmore. This might be like when omar little whistled an imminent death on the streets of bmore
December 10th, 2018 at 7:09 pm
@JimmyJack … “People been talking up this #1 offense all year. So long as they have a stat sheet to tell them we are #1 they are more than happy.”
This is what you get though JimmyJack when TOTAL YARDS GAINED is used as the critieria instead of POINTS SCORED. Bucs are presently #2 in TOTAL YARDS but #10 in POINTS SCORED (and if you take off our first game … 48 points scored … we’d be closer to the middle of the pack since we’d be down to 23.5 PPG vs 25.5 PPG). IOW, Bucs offense is closer to average than it is to exceptional. Interestingly, in 3 games (all losses) our offense scored a TOTAL of 27 pts (9 PPG average), but in the other 10 games we’ve scored a TOTAL of 305 pts (30.5 PPG average) and we won half of those games.
Bucs defense is a different story. On the season we’ve allowed an average of 29.5 PPG, but that’s quite misleading. In the first 5 games under Smitty our defense gave up 34.6 PPG, but in the last 8 games under Duffner that’s lessened to 26.3 PPG (and it’s down to 18 PPG in the last 3 games).
Personally I think the whole thing largely boils down to how the ‘beasts’ in the trenches have played. OLine started off good, but has been mediocre lately. DLine started off terrible, but once they caught fire the whole defense improved significantly.
December 10th, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Defense Rules……Good post and I agree with your final opinion.
Since Dirk has been here he has developed one lineman(offense or defense). If you want to throw Lichts name into the argument that one lineman in five years.
This problem will never get fixed under this regime. The proof is Iin the pudding.
December 10th, 2018 at 8:07 pm
Well, we now know it’s time for the house cleaning- no way on earth we win either if the next two games – 6-10 after 5-11 – if the Falcons lay down…
Bye Dirk!
December 10th, 2018 at 8:28 pm
If they had any pride, they would not be this undisciplined
December 10th, 2018 at 8:58 pm
Very cold..maybe snow in Raven country come Sunday. And the Ravens are already sayin, they gotta have this one. A couple of false moves by our Offense and we could be talkin..Blowout City for these Bucs. 6-10 for the year is what I’m seein. Dirks smart. He’s probably already cleaned his office and downloaded what he needs.
December 10th, 2018 at 9:01 pm
Make that 20,001. #slumbusters Traveling to Baltimore next weekend to see the carnage. Maybe I score a cheap ticket if I wear my BUCS gear, have pity on this fan
December 10th, 2018 at 9:34 pm
JR Sweezy! The Bucs got him from the Seahawks. they paid him millions and he never played a down (because of injuries?) Now, he is a starting lineman for the Seahawks again. What’s up with that?
December 10th, 2018 at 10:05 pm
Sweezy is a Seahawk. Always has been. In the middle of his career he got a nasty back injury. He took a paid leave and went to Tampa to keep his back nice a warm during his rehab.
Once he recovered he went back to Seattle.
December 10th, 2018 at 10:06 pm
@Larry, I believe the difference is coaching or lack thereof.
December 10th, 2018 at 11:43 pm
We can hire coach after coach after coach
Until we get a legit gm we remain the tampa browns