CBS: Bucs Were Good, Not Great
December 15th, 2020
Grading the Bucs.
When you watched the Bucs game and finally came down off the Victory Monday buzz, what did you think?
The Bucs played OK? Maybe a bit better than OK? Well, you are not alone.
In grading the Bucs’ victory over the Vikings on Sunday, Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports handed the Bucs a “B” grade for the win that pulled the Bucs a game closer to the playoffs.
Despite coming away with the win, the Buccaneers still look like a team that is trying to figure itself out, especially on the offensive side of the ball. While you may be able to chalk it up to bye week rust, Tom Brady continued to show signs that he’s out of sync in Bruce Arians’ offense early in this contest with missed throws to Rob Gronkowski, Mike Evans, and others. Thanks to the struggles with Minnesota’s kicking game, they were able to overcome a lackluster start to walk away with the win and put up 23 unanswered points, but it was hard to come away super impressed with this unit. Defensively, they did a solid job slowing down Adam Thielen and even Dalvin Cook following a hot first quarter by the Vikings offense.
Joe believes that is a fair assessment. The Bucs had their moments — a work of art was the park-violating, home-invading, NFLPA-ignoring, down-forgetting, handshake-stiffing, jet-ski-losing, biscuit-baking Bucs quarterback Tom Brady hookup with Scotty Miller.
And defensively, NFL sack king Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh got after Kirk Cousins.
Yes, there were good if not great moments in the game. Still, the Bucs didn’t look like a team maxing out its talent, or like a team that could plow through the playoffs.
Yet.
December 15th, 2020 at 12:54 am
Brady looked sloppy for most of the first half
December 15th, 2020 at 12:55 am
yet- they better figure it out soon- Don’t sleep on Raheem
December 15th, 2020 at 4:31 am
Be prepared because I think Atlanta will gamble on 4th downs. They have no reasons to play it safe. Go Bucs!
December 15th, 2020 at 5:48 am
Yes, Raheem is 21-35 as a Head Coach. A modern day Vince Lombardi.
December 15th, 2020 at 6:03 am
Good assessment by Sullivan of Bucs’ performance in Sunday’s game. A win beats a loss any day, and particularly THAT win since it SHOULD have all but assured us a playoff spot. Our S/Ts looks solid, but both our offense & defense have work to do to get ‘playoff-ready’.
These last 3 games against the Falcons & Lions SHOULD provide the perfect opportunities for the Bucs to put it all together, especially offensively. Falcons have the #30 defense against the pass and the Lions have the #27 pass defense. Neither is particularly great against the run either (Falcons #11 & Lions #29).
Both the Falcons & the Lions are averaging in the 24-25 PPG scored range on the season and have relatively good passing offenses (#6 & #9 respectively), so those 3 games SHOULD be a good test for our defense (especially our Secondary). Neither has yet generated a particularly strong run game (#25 & #30 respectively) so that SHOULD work in our favor.
Still … it’s one game at a time, and neither team has anything to lose by gambling everything. That makes BOTH of them dangerous IMO.
December 15th, 2020 at 6:18 am
Ugly Betty got the win, but the defense getting 4 sacks in the last 2 drives by the Vikings offense was by far the highlight. Bucs Offense still stuck in 2 nd gear. Oh well, 8-5 is still a winning record, winning record btw did I say that the Bucs have a winning record lol still no draft talk on Dec 15 btw Winning record lol
December 15th, 2020 at 7:19 am
Bucs game plan sucks in first half. Every week instead of chewing up first down to hold on to the ball, they are trying to hit big plays downfield which opponents are ready for. Gronk is no longer a deep threat and while he was partially open on Brady’s first overthrow, save those plays for later in the game.
Damn, you have 3 great possession receivers and a tight end that can hold on to the ball. Where is the first down “gimme” passes that every team in the NFL will give you in the early part of a game.
Change up the scripted plays early in the game and shorten up the routes, run it on second down if you complete a 8 yarder, then go play action when the defense is keyed up for the run.
Football isn’t rocket science. The offensive adjustments need to happen early in the game. The Bucs have not been able to hit those 20-30 yard plays downfield early, so give it up and do something with a higher probability of getting first down.
December 15th, 2020 at 8:00 am
Fair assessment: good, not great.
Bucs are maybe the 5th best team in the Conference, and 10/11th in the League.
Top 1/3. Barely. No Brady, maybe lower middle third.
They need to totally get their s#!t together if they take a WC spot, or it’ll be one and done.
My gut says this team has unfilled potential, and severely underperforming…and I have no solutions, only observations.
While winning is a pleasant change, this team has been frustrating to watch.
…..
That said, Arians did take over a mess, and in two years the team has transformed from the Koetter/Smith years. I do appreciate that mind-switch, and hope the cap is friendly enpougfh to continue the trend.
December 15th, 2020 at 8:30 am
@August 😂😂😂😂. Winning record, you don’t say
Go Bucs
December 15th, 2020 at 9:30 am
Again, it’s the slow starts that are killing us. Both the D and O really picked up their games in the second half, and once we get a couple of scores up on an opponent, things really start to click. If we could only figure out how to recapture some of that 1st quarter drive we had at the beginning of the season, we’d be in great shape for the playoffs.
December 15th, 2020 at 10:10 am
Fair assessment. If the Vikings had Kyle Brindza, they win the game.
December 15th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Look how far we’ve come. We’re debating if the wins are good enough.
December 15th, 2020 at 9:42 pm
Rico 210 Says:
December 15th, 2020 at 8:30 am
@August 😂😂😂😂. Winning record, you don’t say
Go Bucs
😂🤣😁 Yes lol Winning Record lol GO BUCS!!!