At 4-4, Falcons Lead The NFC South
October 30th, 2022
What a weird year in the NFC South, a Panthers organization trying to lose is playing strong football and Marcus Mariota’s Falcons now lead the division with a 4-4 record.
The Carolina Panthers and immortal fourth-string quarterback P.J. Walker followed up their pounding of the Buccaneers last Sunday by losing an overtime heartbreaker, 37-34, at Atlanta today.
Joe watched the entire game and what a physical battle it was. Sadly, Joe will say both teams looked a lot hungrier than the Bucs have the past few weeks.
Both clubs hammered away on their running games and had good success. That disturbed Joe because the Bucs can’t stop the run lately or run the ball.
Walker threw a pick-six on a screen pass with about a minute remaining in the first half. It was a gift that Atlanta desperately needed. Atlanta grabbed a late lead but a savage throw by Walker — 67 yards in the air (video below)– to D.J. Moore tied the game with seconds remaining. But Carolina missed the extra point, which was nearly 50 yards because Moore got a 15-yard celebration penalty after the TD grab.
The Carolina missed a short field goal in overtime before Mariota had a key 30-yard run that put Atlanta in field goal range.
The Bucs sit in second place tied with the slimy Saints, which shut out the Raiders 24-0. (Yes, Jameis Winston will stay benched yet another week for Andy Dalton.) The Bucs own a tiebreaker on New Orleans after beating them in Week 2.
The division is there for the Bucs to take, Joe believes, if they’re willing to fight for it. Tampa Bay closes the regular season at Atlanta.
PJ WALKER TO DJ MOORE, HOLY COW!pic.twitter.com/hNazMcWFwe
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 30, 2022
October 30th, 2022 at 4:48 pm
Sorry Joe’s
I am losing interest, I have not watched any football this weekend
October 30th, 2022 at 4:52 pm
Might as well be a 10 game lead
We have no heart or will or hussle or nads
Sell what we can
October 30th, 2022 at 4:52 pm
Just embarrassing mark on this team and this coaching staff. Can they really turn around the season if they’re 3-6? Doubt it! It means the bucs will be playing for their season against the rams at homes. A team that has pretty much owned them.
October 30th, 2022 at 4:55 pm
A bunch of crappy teams, honestly who cares? I’m pulling for the “poor” Bills fans who’ve never experienced a super bowl victory in their history. No one else deserves it honestly.
October 30th, 2022 at 4:56 pm
Every game I watched the teams played with more fire and better coaching. The Falcons or Saints will win the division unless the owners do something to help right the ship. As things stand now no way we beat the Rams.
October 30th, 2022 at 4:58 pm
Still think the Yucs win the South.
October 30th, 2022 at 4:59 pm
They really need to go into the bye week at 5-5 somehow
October 30th, 2022 at 5:02 pm
The line for next week’s game has…get ready for this…the bucs favored by 1.5. Is the brain trust in Vegas watching the same team we are???
October 30th, 2022 at 5:05 pm
Bucs should really trade for Bradley Chubb. JTS is inconsistent and our two backups are not starter quality. Even when next season starts Shaq won’t have his explosion back.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:05 pm
That was one of the most laughable and dumbest endings to a regular season game, then OT, that I’ve ever seen.
These two teams are clowns, and not a threat to the Bucs, if the Bucs do ANYTHING on offense (IE, remove Leftwich from his job).
If either of these two clown teams ends the year ahead of the Bucs, then everyone, including Licht, should be fired. If Dungy, who is a HOF’er, was fired for refusing to make changes at OC, what do you think should be done with a clueless non-talent coach like Bowles? I’m actually not as down on Bowles as most people, because he wasn’t given a choice of OC, he was told to take Leftwich, but at some point, as a HC, you MUST take responsibility for your team, and make changes, if you don’t, then you should lose your job.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:06 pm
It was an entertaining game from beginning to end…
At least it’s not the Panthers…
If the Bucs could at least play hard all for quarters like those 2 teams did today on offense and defense, the Bucs wouldn’t look like a team coached by Bowels!
October 30th, 2022 at 5:08 pm
Joe must be high. This season is over for the Bucs.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:11 pm
As for everyone saying the Bucs should trade for this guy or that guy… I will again point you to the fact that the Bucs have nearly zero cap space and they’ve already done pretty much every accounting trick you can do to create space.
I believe, and maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but I believe the only way you could trade for someone is if they’re on a cheap (not 1st round) rookie deal, OR the team we’re trading with is willing to each the players salary, and convert their base salary into a signing bonus and then eat most of any cap hit, and even then you’re still pretty limited on what you can take one.
The Bucs cap situation is so bad, for example, they never placed Hicks on IR. Why wouldn’t you do that since you know he’s out? Because you have to sign a replacement player, and even 4 weeks of a replacement player, at min salary, eats into the tiny amount of cap space left. Licht was right not to put Hicks on IR, and I’ll point to the Shaq injury as why, you have to replace Shaq now from the tiny amount left in the available cap space. This is not the NHL, you don’t get cap space back because of injuries, everyone injured goes against the cap regardless of health.
Also, to the best of my knowledge, teams in the NFL can not retain cap, which is why you need to do stuff like converting base salary into signing bonuses BEFORE a trade could happen.
If I’m wrong on any of this, let me know. The NFL has been really pushing a ton of rule changes since the VID, so maybe I missed something, but I don’t believe so.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Falcons Eagles Giants. End times are near. Build your bunker now. Store plenty of food and water.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:17 pm
Kentucky Buc Says:
October 30th, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Falcons Eagles Giants. End times are near. Build your bunker now. Store plenty of food and water.
——–
Holy Jesus… that’s really concerning when you put it that way. I wonder when we get the news of the asteroid, I wonder how long they’ll wait to tell us…
October 30th, 2022 at 5:23 pm
Someone up thread mention hoping for the Bills , if they are in the PO’s and the Bucs dead, I’ll be pulling for the Bills , mostly for Jim Kelly and bringing some happiness to his difficult life. Happy get together times with he and his old teammates if they make it to the SB.
This is the most bizarre chapter in Bucs history!
The Lost Season
Not W&L
Lost as in delirium a crazy opium dream
October 30th, 2022 at 5:27 pm
Could really be the best, all things considered, if we don’t start playing with fire and consistency in all phases of the game. The worst thing would be to win the division, get crushed in the playoffs, and as a playoff team, draft in the lower third every round. I just don’t think Bowles knows how to light a fire under these 25- to 30-year-old multi-millionaires. And I have to wonder if Brady really though Bowles would be the answer to put this team into another SB contention.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:29 pm
I’m ready for a de-construction & re-construction.
This season is lost.
What a sorry bunch. makes me pine for Youngry & Toes-on-the-Line.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:30 pm
Are you guys really saying a team with Godwin, Evans and Brady is done for the season really? Think Brady will miss the playoffs seriously?
Things looked bad during our superbowl season too and if Licht is smart enough he’ll realize acquiring Gronk and Antonio brown was a big reason.
There is always a way to manipulate the cap go make some moves because don’t look now but we are tied with the saints
October 30th, 2022 at 5:31 pm
Rod… it is a pipe dream. You aren’t going to replace Barrett with some upgrade. And our problems go far deeper. The smart thing to do is to move some guys we probably can’t resign next year for something and prepare for a new HC and a nice number of draft picks. I’ve seen this kind of thing play out before. And throwing good draft picks after players that won’t help a foundering team with a coach with apparently no answers will accomplish anything.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:34 pm
Pewter. I suggest you get a new TV and maybe an NFL plus subscription, watch the games again, and again ask yourself the same question about this team’s future this year. Compared to the Bills, the Chiefs, and some of these other high-flying teams…. even Dallas now…. they are lost.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:36 pm
Go Fal-can’ts
Is can’ts even a word?
Who cares.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:37 pm
White is an outside linebacker, period! Why are the Bucs playing him inside?
October 30th, 2022 at 5:39 pm
mark2001 – Once Brady leaves, the team goes into a decade of darkness, having an extra 6th rounder isn’t going to change that.
Remember when Brady told Gronk he signed with Tampa, and Gronk said he had forgotten that Tampa had a team. That’s the post-Brady future for the team.
Also, any players of value, have contracts that aren’t going to let them get traded since it advances the cap hit. So no one of any value is going anywhere.
You take your chances with this team, and see what happens. There’s no reason to rush into being completely irrelevant again.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:42 pm
Time to bring out the paper bags for our heads on Sunday…..again. Back to selecting in the top 10, or 5, or sooner every April.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:45 pm
Jim Kelly is an azzhole.
Just because he’s messed up now it doesn’t change things.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:47 pm
Bowles is right. Super bowl hangover. Fantasy. Players either got the money or ring. Some are comfortable with that. That’s where you draw the line from good and great players.
Great players have that fire burning every year. Licht got most of his moves wrong this year.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:48 pm
Arthur Smith seems like a good coach.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:49 pm
I’m happy and did not watch football today. LOst interest. Btw, is Bowles and Leftwich still with the Bucs ? that’s what I thought… pathetic and sad !
October 30th, 2022 at 5:51 pm
D. White is a great LB. You put nacho and Logan hall in front of him ?
Imo. Once hicks comes back and lines up next to vea. Our run defense will get back in track and d. White will dominate just like the first 2-3 weeks.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:53 pm
If that headline alone isn’t enough to fire Bowles and Leftwich I don’t know what is. Licht also has to go after sitting on his hands this week and not making the call.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:53 pm
They should probably try winning a game maybe.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:55 pm
Amazing that every team I watched today, and it was a lot, areplaying with heart, emotion, pride and enthusiasm….we haven’t seen any of that in this Bucs team. My question is simple….why????
October 30th, 2022 at 5:56 pm
Since JW will obviously be available next spring, I’m sure he would be happy to come back to Tampa.
October 30th, 2022 at 5:57 pm
where can I get those points?
October 30th, 2022 at 5:58 pm
Richard, in my opinion we are old as a team and too many guys are collecting for their retirement funds. We have a great freshman class and the right leadership could fix this in a hurry.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:00 pm
You are running out of games for Hicks to even come back. So how much longer do they expect him to be out? Or he another lost cause?
October 30th, 2022 at 6:01 pm
I have now had 5 different people, all fans of other teams, say the same thingn to me when questioning what has happened to the Bucs this season:
“They just don’t look hungry / motivated”
EVERYONE sees it.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:02 pm
Slow. Sloppy. Careless. Old.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:04 pm
Jack… I could see Carr coming here. I think the Raiders might be ready to move on. JW…. No way. We have seen that show before.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:06 pm
Hicks… Rodolph… Jones…. all crap shoots. It didn’t work. Time to prepare for the future and a new HC.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:08 pm
@Richard this team takes its personality of their coach. Bowles is just not it.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:11 pm
Watching Giants game, Barkley makes. Great sideline run, the coach rushes over to help him up. All Bowels and Leftnut do is keep their guys down.
#BATBBLkilledtheGOAT
October 30th, 2022 at 6:16 pm
In similar news, has anyone noticed that the Dungy coaching “tree” is just about finished? Tomlin is foundering. Wouldn’t be odd if the victory against the Bucs helped him keep his job? It just shows that the qualities it takes to be and keep being a good HC is a rare thing.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:16 pm
We need to win a game…..any game
October 30th, 2022 at 6:18 pm
TBBF… we might win… one or two more this year.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:24 pm
Seattle is going to kick the piss out of the Bucs in Munich.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:28 pm
I’m sitting here looking at the schedule and I see Maybeeee 3 more wins if our team continues on its present course. Ok..maybe 4 and that’s stretching it.ATL might take this division. Good to see Mariota playing decent again. I thought his career as a starter was finished. Thats why you never know…
October 30th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
Whatever is wrong this year connects directly to Jason, he created this team. Several questionable draft choices, lots of minor hit or major misses, worse terrible free agent signings, this is poorly constructed team. The good teams are deep, the deeper the roster the better the team.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:30 pm
With toilet bowl Mr butthole the bucs will surely not win another game this year..It all starts with coaching.Look at toilet bowls record with the jets.Bucs are officially dead in 2022.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Someone mentioned that the Bucs might be out of shape as a football team. Lol. I mean how does that happen? Well i wouldn’t put it pass anyone with this staff.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Jason is the problem, he created this team. Several questionable draft choices, lots of minor hit or major misses, worse terrible free agent signings, this is poorly constructed team. The good teams are deep, the deeper the roster the better the team.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:30 pm
There is not one Head Coach that Bowles is superior to. Likewise OC. This franchise is on the decline … and fast. It will take years to rebuild if the Glazers desire to do so.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Jason is the problem, he created this team. This poorly constructed team. The good teams are deep, the deeper the roster the better the team.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:33 pm
I don’t know who they would be because we can lose to a team with a USFL reject at QB. And if Atlanta keeps going along with the Saints we lose those too. We are not beating the Rams.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:39 pm
The effort in the second half looked like a team that just quit on their coaches. They’re going into the rams game with these losers on the sidelines. It boils my blood. They’re clueless!!!!
October 30th, 2022 at 6:43 pm
RodMunch, unfortunately I think you are right on the cap situation. I would love to hear ideas to the contrary, because the roster is in desperate need at many spots. What has continued to alarm me since the spring is their failure and refusal to replace and upgrade major veteran losses, when the opportunity was still there. Wasted and ill-advised signings (Julio, Gage, Hicks, Rudolph, Nassib). Mediocre non-immediate impact draft picks. Leaving the season at the mercy of in-house JAGs, and veterans who are mentally checked out or listless. A self-feeding malaise that begins at the top with coaching and management, but the player level problems are hard to fix.
Adrnagy, yes, Super Bowl hangover, two years into it. Go ask the Seahawks how that is, when coaches can’t corral hot stuff veterans who have lost interest, no longer buying in, and blowing drafts and free agency.
Seattle is only now beginning to figure it out. They’ve blown up the team for the most part, “embracing the suck”, but guess what? They’re playing free, with low expectations.
There were so many expectations that this was a final all-in SB run with Tom Brady. What these expectations failed to take into account was the actual condition of the coaching, the roster, and the locker room. It’s looking more like the “end” before the blow up that may take a long time.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:46 pm
After watching the replay of the game, and watching football all weekend, why can’t you see that this team has checked out. No heart, no juice. Bowles has lost the team. That effort Thursday night was a total embarrassment.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:49 pm
We’ll know if they’ve thrown in the towel on the season if they don’t go after a TE RB or OL before the trade deadline.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:50 pm
BA killed the Bucs
BA killed the Goat
October 30th, 2022 at 6:52 pm
BA won a Super Bowl.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:55 pm
“mark2001 Says: I could see Carr coming here.”
David Carr? He has 65 TDs and 71 INTs. LMAO.
October 30th, 2022 at 6:58 pm
Todd Bowles and Lovie Smith have lost the same amount of games this year
Let that sink in for a bit….
Bottom dweller
October 30th, 2022 at 6:58 pm
So many teams look so much better than the Bucs today.
Players, coaches, front office, future. All in question here.
This sucks
October 30th, 2022 at 6:58 pm
Watching the Seahawks game and remembering Joe’s mentioning of Pete Carrol in a previous post. Coaching the most out of his team and he sure has. Take notes Bucs coaching staff
October 30th, 2022 at 7:00 pm
joe says:The division is there for the Bucs to take, Joe believes, if they’re willing to fight for it.
I am not counting on the Bucs fighting for anything. the offense is listlesss, nothing and nobody is able to jumpstart it and defense is good for 2 series only. We are at our max wins this season. Hopefully we fire Bowles, Leftwich and the entire coaching staff and ship Devin White out for some old gatorade. We are done–the fork is already in it.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:10 pm
Tanner Hidson making some nice catches for The Giants. I don’t suppose they’d trade him to Tampa for Rudolph?
October 30th, 2022 at 7:14 pm
49ers handled the rams 31-14. Rams will be desperate next week as well. We shall see now.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:25 pm
The Bucs haven’t won a Super Bowl since they cut Tanner. BIG MISTAKE. Clearly he cursed us.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:26 pm
@BucsfaninMi, I’ll bet you brag about scoring 4 tds at Polk High. Stop living in the past, I know your from MI so losing is commonplace but being from NE we don’t take well to it. BA shoving Toilet Bowels and Leftnut down the Bucs throat killed the franchise and his silence speaks volumes.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:38 pm
I think BA did what he did – convince the Glazers to hire Bowles as head coach – to help Bowles rehabilitate himself from his disastrous years as head coach of the Jets. Yes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:43 pm
List. I think that is pretty much the case. Arians should have stuck it out one more year when Brady returned. Instead, he was so certain that Bowles was HC material, that he retired from that position. But to mollify the Glazers, he generously volunteered his services, at a salary bigger than most all of us on this board ever made in our lifetime, to “consult”. Alot of good that has done.
BTW… those that say this is all on Licht. Yes, he is part of the problem. But remember, the HC always has say-so on who is resigned, or cut, or signed… particularly when they are the HC and DC. So for those trying to make Bowles an innocent victim…. Sure he was, just like he was against the Rams in their winning drive. SMH.
And for thiose saying Arians “red pen” was the reason for him “getting Arians fired”, let me ask two simple questions…. Does Tom look like a guy really excited to play for Todd Bowles, with Lefty calling the plays? And secondly, didn’t Tom always had the ability to change a play at the line of scrimmage? Sure, he could do so and talk to Bruce later. But now, whose brain does he have to pick? Lefty’s? Todds? Please guys, think about it.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:43 pm
McVay vs Bowels part 3
BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Take the Rams and points
October 30th, 2022 at 7:46 pm
TRex… McVay and his staff vs. Bowles, and Lefty, minus Bruce’s Offense. Yikes.
October 30th, 2022 at 7:58 pm
This team lacks fire….and that’s on Bowles…..
Looking at our schedule and I don’t see any relief……The offense impotency puts too much pressure on our defense.
October 30th, 2022 at 8:07 pm
This team has an excellent chance at finishing dead last in this division.
October 30th, 2022 at 8:09 pm
The way this team has been playing, there is a realistic chance at losing out the rest of the schedule.
October 30th, 2022 at 8:19 pm
Cobra… I think you could count on one hand the number of fans on this board that have been watching or playing this game for decades, that would have confidence in Bowles and Lefty.
October 30th, 2022 at 9:29 pm
beano Says:
October 30th, 2022 at 6:55 pm
“mark2001 Says: I could see Carr coming here.”
David Carr? He has 65 TDs and 71 INTs. LMAO
__________
His career stats are 202 TD 90 INT 92.1 QBR
October 30th, 2022 at 9:31 pm
This website has become very depressing. Almost no facts; far too much speculation run amok. So many supposed ‘fans’ with emotional comments like ‘this team has quit on Bowles’ or whatever. How do you even know that?
Fact is that this team has major personnel problems, some due to injury, some due to age, some due to shoddy management by our GM in stocking the cupboard. When your defense has Delaney, Neal, Senat, JTS plus rookies Hall & McCollum starting against a physical team like the Ravens, guess what, you’re in deep doo-doo. The fact that this defense held the Ravens to 3 points in the 1st half actually amazes me, especially considering that those 3 points came off a FG where the Ravens were handed the ball on the 6-yard line thanks to a muffed punt.
The fact that the Bucs’ offense punted their last 3 drives of the 1st half & the first 2 drives of the 2nd half totally wore out our defense. Far too many whiners on this site chastising the defense for quitting on Bowles, when in reality they were on the field for almost 17 minutes more than our offense. That’s absurd. They didn’t quit, they couldn’t breathe more than likely.
That same Bucs’ offense had to settle for THREE FGs on the night, plus their 2 TDs. Thus far on the season we’ve already SETTLED for 19 FGs. Heck we only kicked 25 all last season. Just getting 1 TD instead of settling for a FG would’ve added 4 MAYBE 5 points, and we could’ve won that game (we missed a 2-pt conversion earlier).
October 30th, 2022 at 9:51 pm
Only an eternal optimist would believe the Bucs still have a chance at the Division. No playoffs for many years to come for this team unless some wholesale changes are made.
October 30th, 2022 at 10:19 pm
Happy for the Falcons and nice to see a good coach and a nice rebuild come together … Yucs need to do the same