“Work In Progress”
September 14th, 2020
One national NFL stenographer seems to suggest he knows what is wrong with the Bucs.
Jeff Chadiha of NFL.com hints that the Bucs’ franchise is such a poisoned culture, not even a coach like Bucco Bruce Arians or a legend of a quarterback like park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring Tom Brady are immune from getting dragged down in the quicksand.
Let it be known that this will be more of a work in progress than anybody expected. Brady actually threw two interceptions on the day, while completing 23 of 36 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns. The Bucs’ defense did play fairly well — as they held the Saints to just 271 total yards — but special teams was a disaster. New Orleans blocked one field-goal attempt and also recovered a pooch kickoff when two Bucs players ran into each other while trying to field the ball.
These were the types of comical errors that were supposed to vanish with Brady’s presence. The truth is that the Bucs very much resembled a young team still trying to find its own continuity after COVID-19 ravaged offseason practice time for every franchise in the league. Bucs head coach Bruce Arians had worried about special teams mistakes earlier in training camp and he got them. Brady had voiced his own concerns about miscommunication, and his first interception resulted from him and wide receiver Mike Evans misreading the Saints’ coverage.
Those issues quickly altered the energy around the Bucs after Brady led them on a nine-play, 85-yard scoring drive that ended with his 2-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. When asked about the team’s efforts after that point, Bucs tight end O.J. Howard said, “it was very disappointing” while adding that “we really beat ourselves.” Bucs head coach Bruce Arians was more candid in his assessment. Said Arians: “I wouldn’t say (Brady) was out of sync until we started screwing it up.”
Well, the thing about being a “young team” is utter nonsense and a too-used parrotted cliche.
The youngest guys on the team were the ones that played so well: The young secondary, including rookie safety Antoine Winfield, and on offense rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs.
Second-year receiver Scotty Miller had a better game than veteran Mike Evans.
Chadiha was at the game, per the dateline on his story. He didn’t see that the young Bucs were outplaying their veteran teammates? Or did Chadiha choose to ignore that?
Joe is starting to think the Bucs have gone out game after game for so many seasons, shooting themselves in the foot (or as Arians would say, “Bucs beating Bucs”), that the players on this team expect it because playing sloppy, dumb football is so ingrained in their hearts, heads and DNA.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:01 pm
Not worried! All fixable!
Go Bucs!
September 14th, 2020 at 12:03 pm
F that guy.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:04 pm
A sidebar yet notable problem. Not just a perception anymore but this is a trend:
Mike Evans needs to stop letting Lattimer and others get in his head. It wrecks his play and he never seems to learn. Beast of a player, nice of him to restructure his contract. Short of that, he is probably the most immature person on the team.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:04 pm
Just gotta weed out the guys who dont understand the playbook and what “DOING YOU JOB” means.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:07 pm
I have no idea what Arians sees in Leftwhich to give him play calling duties.
BL lead the worst offense in the NFL in Arizona and now he we just let him call plays?
September 14th, 2020 at 12:07 pm
Evan’s was obviously injured not sure why the kept him in the game just as a decoy. If there was an article today about the poor left tackle play I must have missed it. He was not only slow off the snap he gave up on the plays he whiffed on. Literally stood there when he was blown by instead of trying to recover. The rookies did better than I expected besides a couple of stupid penalties.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
Leftsuck is killing this offense
we seen it last year
Leftsuck needs to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 14th, 2020 at 12:10 pm
Roy is on to something. Lattimore isn’t the only db to use this tactic on Evans either. Also tired of the consistent whining for penalties whether justified (20%) or not (80%).
That special teams play tho…. just so bad. 2 guys neither of whom should have been catching that ball! Forget the miscommunication… Let it go out of bounds so Brady can have the ball at the 40!
September 14th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
Maybe the GM shouldn’t listen to DE Josh Allen about who he would take to the NFL with him. IOW: Maybe do some scouting and avoid guys like Mike Edwards who make stupid mistakes on Kickoffs.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:11 pm
It didn’t help that for about almost 2 quarters we kept running on 1st down so it became predictable.
So what was up with N.Orleans trying to run up the score at the end with virtually no time left? Why not just kick the FG? I think their coach will regret that move.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:12 pm
Wasn’t expecting the most gelled together performance but to see the ‘Goat’ play like King Turnover (JW) was disappointing…
still high hopes this was do to no preseason and shorten practice this year…
MUCH to improve on though!
September 14th, 2020 at 12:13 pm
@ Jay
There’s no such thing as “running up the score”
It’s called football and the goal is to stop your opponent……plain and simple
September 14th, 2020 at 12:15 pm
@ Tye
What we saying mostly yesterday was a poorly coached team
The Bucs had error on almost every component of the game
You’ll never win in the NFL if you play sloppy like that…….don’t believe???….then go ask the Cleveland Browns.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Pablo wants to know is Brady an upgrade over Winston? Brady currently on track for 32 picks this year, two more than Winston last season.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Seriously – the Bucs need to replace Special Teams Coach Keith Armstong. He sucked last year and so far he has not shown any improvement. With all the speed on the team, you would think the Bucs would be much better. I think we were in last place in last year’s special team ranking. Our punter is the only bright spot.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
They need to get rid of Byron Leftsuck……..tired of this crappy predictable non-creative offense.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:17 pm
@ AlabamaBucsFan
Byron Leftsuck is the first one that needs to go
September 14th, 2020 at 12:18 pm
I’ll tell u this. Put Brady in the shotgun and let him call the plays. Its obvious Byron sucks. Start calling slants, screens and then use play action
September 14th, 2020 at 12:18 pm
I think the sloppy play all across the board goes a little deeper than just it being the 1st game with no preseason, etc…….
The Bucs have been doing this for years. When was the last time the Bucs played a clean game. The always put out a sloppy product. BA is overrated.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:20 pm
I didn’t expect dumb, lazy, and undisciplined play but that’s what we got.
Time to get to work boys.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
And I agree Keith Armstrong needs to go. Why the bleep are we still hiring coaches from the Falcons Mike Smith coaching tree and expecting things to change? This is a joke.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:21 pm
@ tbbucs3
Bucco Brucie is looking like a “stale ol biscuit”
………….I’m starting to question his decision making now……ESPECIALLY him giving offensive play calling to Byron Leftsuck
September 14th, 2020 at 12:24 pm
Glad we are giving Tom a chance to prove everyone wrong! To the detriment of the franchise’s future.
I’d rather watch Jameis throw into tight-windows, than see limp-wristed Brady not able to make throws outside the hashes.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:25 pm
The offense needs time to gel. The pooch kick blunder and the Vita Vea getting drawn offsides are dumb mistakes and a good time to get them in was now. These won’t happen again this year–you can bet on that. I thought 54 yard FG was out of Succop’s range, even indoors. The K will naturally kick it lower and it is true, the SP play was sloppy overall.
Yes, the veterans did the worse, especially guys who should lead, like Evans (already commented on him), and Brady himself got overwhelmed. Why I am not worried is this is all fixable, and guys like Brady can and will get it done.
I’ve said, I didn’t expect a win here and am really happy about the the D. They are for real. That is a good takeway from yesterday for sure.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:26 pm
“I’m starting to question his decision making now especially giving the offensive playcalling to Leftwich ”
Right. You didn’t question BA before because you blamed the black quarterback, and now you’re blaming the black offensive coordinator. You’re just a racist. Time to look yourself in the mirror.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:28 pm
I’m sure Brady’s arm/body will be in even better shape by the time this team is ready to “gel”.
Lil Tommy didn’t look super comfortable out taking those hits.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:29 pm
Etzel
Take those dumb comments elsewhere.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
Maybe the whole, massive staff of Arians needs thinned. The whole team looked confused yesterday. The Saints coaching looked great.
That pic-6 play happened so often last year you would think someone would have noticed and trashed it.
One big thing is that the Bucs need to learn to win. After the pic-6 and the Jamel Dean incident, the team deflated. No receiver fought to get open, they just jogged along. The effort was atrocious.
Evans should have stayed in the locker room after half time, his head wasn’t in the game.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
Joe something lost in yesterday’s game was Cam Jordan showing he’s a punk by punching a Buc from above while the buc player was down in a pile. Jensen stepped to him but there was no flag, ejection or anything! I thought that was the biggest blown call all game.
[Arians just spoke about that. Jordan told the refs he was trying to punch the ball out. — Joe]
September 14th, 2020 at 12:47 pm
Maybe fire all of them. Start over like a new franchise? Top to bottom. By the time that happens all the social justice and virus stuff will be over? They are so bad they can’t be salvaged. Scrap them all and start over. Clean House.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:55 pm
I had not heard that yet. Thanks. It looked bad from the angle, but I guess thinking about it even now Ryan Jensen would have had an even bigger reaction if he saw Cam was trying to hurt his teammate.
September 14th, 2020 at 1:04 pm
To me, i was impressed overall with the game. The d played lights out except for the big throw to cook. Much better than expected for a week 1 game against a team that has been together for years.
2 big issues: Special teams play was terrible. Constantly out kicking coverage, gave up a fg block and had the bad return turnover. Those shouldnt happen.
Donovan smith was BAD. That worries me big time. Yes the saints are solid, but he was constantly losing to their backup rusher. Gotta change.
Non issues: offensive timing. That will change, no preaseason affects timing. Saints are one of the best teams in the league, and had very little turnover. Lets see how next week goes before pulling the panic button.
Penalties: Yes, the offsides were bad, they should never happen. But the pi calls were just being aggressive, it felt like the refs called a super strict game for both teams. Those wont get called every week.
September 14th, 2020 at 1:23 pm
If you’d told me before this game that Special Teams coaching would actually regress, I wouldn’t have believed it. Also, Leftwich coordinates like he played: slow, boring, situationally inappropriate, and mistake prone.
September 14th, 2020 at 1:37 pm
Fans should be worried. Last year, with the benefit of off season training, Bucs had a punt blocked in their opener against 49ers. Whoever the special teams coach is, he is failing miserably. Defense is still allowing big plays on 3rd and long and Donovan Smith is going to get Brady injured soon. Run game sucks and so does pass protection. Evans is overrated and always get owned in big games. Leftwich is a horrible OC and his play calling is woefully inadequate for a pocket QB. And let’s not forget the bonehead penalties. Buc beating Bucs every Sunday. Just once, I’d love to see a complete game where all three phases plays competently.
September 14th, 2020 at 2:05 pm
Oh the excuses!
The defense played great besides giving up 34 points, well 27 if you don’t count the pick 6 that Brady, the God, threw. Lmao
The goat 12 got everything stacked for him this off season. 1st round tackle, fournette and McCoy. Best receivers in the league? Hmm okay Scotty Miller is pro bowl bound lol.
Oh and btw the overall 5th pick linebacker needs reading glasses or classes or something. Someone tell that boy that reading is fundamental. After your read his stats please go back and look at NO’s biggest plays most are on him per usual.
Why come LaVonte David the only guy on the team who can takes over games? What happened to JPP and suh?
September 14th, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Arians is overrated! Still waiting for the biscuit, Bruce!
September 14th, 2020 at 2:18 pm
Forgot we were supposed to go undefeated this year. Dammit!
September 14th, 2020 at 2:27 pm
They have to play better. I think they can. Remember the Ravens were 2-2 last year then they took off. A little patience till they start gelling together. Only disappointment was Brady’s two pics, that’s ugly.
September 14th, 2020 at 2:35 pm
Itz becoming clear that maybe it the coaching thats the problem.
Get rid of Jameis insert the Best ever and the problems are still the same. If Brady throws 15 plus interceptions then its not going to be Brady’s fault but Coaches fault.
Special teams was horrendous, and enough dumb penalties to go around.
Bring in Gronk but yet they still can’t get tight ends involved in the offense. Despite two TE formations they cant run the ball.
It doesn’t look good. We can all make excuses , its week one, no preseason etc.
September 14th, 2020 at 3:33 pm
Dummy he’s not saying the young players he said they “resembled a young team” the veterans are the ones acting like rookies
September 14th, 2020 at 5:17 pm
TheBucsAnthem- Big difference between trying to keep putting the game out of reach vs. running up the Score. There was only 26 seconds left and they were up by 11 on 4th down at the Bucs 2 or 3 yrd line. It was classless and the Saints pulled this same running up the score vs the Eagles 2 yrs ago.
September 14th, 2020 at 5:25 pm
Take the stupid 5 yard out route outa the playbook coach, unless its a decoy. At some point you gota look in the mirror coach. Lot of air time for so little gain. Prefer the usual 3 yard and a clouda dust over the pick 7’s. Only a pick 6 if the Bucs score on it!!!
September 14th, 2020 at 5:52 pm
I’d love to know what Licht and the owners were saying during and after that game.
Licht assembled a seriously stacked team and they looked horrible yesterday.
Pick 6, sacks, muffed kickoff … I’d say that’s all on the coaches. Glad BA took the blame because he deserved it.
September 14th, 2020 at 6:54 pm
Oh the humanity!
“The sky is falling!” – Chicken Little
September 14th, 2020 at 8:19 pm
Lol. Tom Brady is terrible. Trade for Jameis and put him back at QB. At least with Jameis there was hope and excitement. Brady and his bunch are bad. Godwin should’ve kept the 12 too.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:30 am
when you leave bits and pieces of lazy culture like Smith getting paid 14m a year to let his qb get sacked it leaves a stain on the current culture