No Longer The Leader Of The NFC Pack
October 6th, 2021
Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians.
Pretty much anyone with any common sense picked the Bucs to win the NFC this year. Hey, when a Super Bowl champ brings back every starter including Tom Brady, a guy who claimed he didn’t know the playbook until after Thanksgiving, that’s a no-brainer to lay cash on the Bucs.
Lady Luck hasn’t smiled on the Bucs very much this year. The team’s secondary is beat to hell and its Hall of Fame tight end is out for who knows how long?
Mike Tanier of Football Outsiders said the Bucs will miss foot-rubbing, car-littering, film guru Rob Gronkowski.
What Happened: Tom Brady discovered that it’s really hard for an opponent to win in Foxboro. The conditions are often miserable. The crowd noise is intense. Calls tend to tilt in the Patriots’ favor.
Welcome to how the other half has lived for 20 years, big guy.
What it Means: Despite being loaded with receiving weapons, the Buccaneers missed Rob Gronkowski, who is expected to miss several games with a rib injury. The loss of Carlton Davis (quad) left the Bucs thin at cornerback, and Richard Sherman doesn’t appear to be fully integrated into the defense just yet. Long story short: the Bucs are coping with injuries, something they avoided last year, and it’s making them look somewhat mortal. They remain top contenders, of course, but they are in a pack with the Packers, Cardinals, Rams, and Cowboys, not at the front of that pack.
Joe saw stats yesterday that suggest the offense should dip without Gronkowski. Brady’s numbers over the years take a hit in games without Gronk.
With all the injuries, especially to the secondary, we will find out what kind of sack this team has over the course of the next month or so. Joe believes the whatever-it-takes win on Sunday night may have seen a sneak peek.
Good thing the schedule softens up this weekend.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:05 am
Gilmore being released! Alright Brady, do your thing.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:05 am
If… if we can sign Gilmore, that would help
Go Bucs
October 6th, 2021 at 9:06 am
The point is that our team is targeted at the being ready for the playoffs. Within reason, I personally don’t give a flying fish where we are right now. And could care less where the experts rank us from week to week. Sure…a bye and home field advantage would be great at the end of the regular season. But more importantly, we need to get healthy and fine tune this team to be ready for the end of the year and peak at that time. Today is still the early part of the journey.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:09 am
Brady, Jason, please make it happen with Gilmore!
October 6th, 2021 at 9:10 am
Hey Joes, Bucs had injuries last year like VV’s broken leg. Gronkowski came out of retirement cos his pal asked him. If old man Brady can’t adjust to Howard and Cam Brate, he’s no GOAT.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:10 am
Get Gilmore here! Another Superbowl is priceless
October 6th, 2021 at 9:11 am
Unless he accepts Bitcoins, (unregaulated money) I can´t see how we can pay Gilmore
October 6th, 2021 at 9:14 am
Someone needs to tell OJ that this may be his last chance. His only noticeable contribution Sunday was a critical false start penalty.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:19 am
Gilmore is looking for 15 mil. Will play week 6. Not sure if we can afford him
October 6th, 2021 at 9:26 am
Perhaps Gilmore will take a little less to win a Super Bowl this year with the Bucs. He can sign his big contract somewhere else after the season.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:28 am
Joe please, why am I being put in the cooler. My post are gone. What am I doing wrong? I have a new phone. Lol can’t interact like this
October 6th, 2021 at 9:28 am
I have to believe Gilmore is already “paid” for 2021. A one year luxury rental may have just fallen into The Bucs lap ( not Urban Meyer lap style ). I’m sure JBF HQ is working on a story as we speak/text.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:31 am
If the did get Gilmore it would have to be a huge signing bonus plus several years. Its possible considering how much money comes off the books next year.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:31 am
Get ahn the phone with Gilmore’s agent now Brady/Licht !!! This is the stroke of luck our team needed.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:33 am
I hope Jason Licht is doing his cap-nastic to bring another help in the secondary. As we all know, coming into the season every team is treating their game against the BUCS as a superbowl game. Every offensive and defensive schemes are getting scrutinize. That’s why BA, BL, Bowles needs to be creative in their play making schemes. And players needs to add extra effort.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:45 am
So far the Patriots lost all their 3 home games this year, not such a terrible place to play.
October 6th, 2021 at 9:58 am
It’s early. It’s not how you start (even though 3-1 is damn good), it’s how you finish. See: 2020 Season
October 6th, 2021 at 10:16 am
Does Gilmore have to go through wavers? No way he gets through if he does.
October 6th, 2021 at 10:23 am
Who cares it’s October…geez
October 6th, 2021 at 10:32 am
SURVIVAL MODE FOR THE NEXT 2 MONTHS.
GO BUCS!!!!!
October 6th, 2021 at 11:07 am
Not an AFC follower so can’t say if the front-runners need Gilmore. The Cowboys and Rams actually are getting worse pass defense than Bucs in terms of giving up yardage. Cowboys have Trevon Diggs who is having a great season with 5 interceptions. He will make a ton of money when his rookie contract is over. Rams have Jalen Ramsey who is one of highest paid DB’s in league. Cards have Byron Murphy, another good corner with 3 interceptions.
It would appear even though the Bucs are giving up less yards that Dallas and LA would be unlikely landing spots for Gilmore. Green Bay’s pass defense is fine and so is Arizona’s.
Packers- 311 yards per game
Cards- 357.2 yards per game
Bucs- 375 yards per game
Cowboys- 396 per game
Rams- 396 per game
October 6th, 2021 at 11:34 am
Based on Gilmore’s age he really belongs with the Bucs.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:05 pm
Gilmore would be a great edition to this team but the guys filing in for our key players need to push themselves harder and do their jobs. Like catching balls and getting interceptions.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:11 pm
Gilmore is looking for 11mil. Arizona has Baker. Panthers just got him
October 6th, 2021 at 2:11 pm
Gilmore is a Panther.
We better hope he’s not 100%…
October 6th, 2021 at 2:31 pm
Yep traded to the Panthers for 2023 six round draft pic.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:09 pm
I have no problem with the Bucs flying under the radar (as much as the SB Champ possibly can). Hopefully the injury bug plays out by the bye week and they can start another streak to the playoffs.
October 6th, 2021 at 7:53 pm
As TB12 played with Gilmore. Let him work his magic to
bring Gilmore to Tampa.
October 7th, 2021 at 8:35 pm
I wouldn’t add Cardinals in “The pack” they are quite obviously the head of the pack rn
October 8th, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Joe,
There are no soft schedules .Or easy games
Injuries are a part of the game ,all teams have injuries.IE the Ravens
This team seems to be suffering from “The here we are world champs ,you can lay down and lose for us now” .Evidenced by the fact the offense hasn’t played a complete game yet.
Joe your sounding like a loser,making excuses .
Great teams are next man up and use no excuses.
Maybe you and the Bucs need to look in a mirror and decide if you want to be relevant in December and January.