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BY IRA KAUFMAN
If you think Bruce Arians had a shred of sympathy for Mike Zimmer Sunday afternoon, think again.
Arians knows what it’s like to compete with a lousy place kicker. Now he has reliable Ryan Succop to split the uprights while Zimmer suffered with Dan Bailey.
We’ll never know the outcome if Bailey hadn’t shanked three FG tries and an extra-point attempt, but we know one thing for sure — this game would have been a lot tighter.
Coming off a bye week, the Bucs said goodbye to the Vikings in the NFC wild-card chase, going up two games and owning the head-to-head tie-breaker. At 8-5, Tampa Bay’s playoff path is clear: win at least two of your final three games and that postseason drought will be history.
While far from their best Sunday, the Bucs proved opportunistic.
Two players in particular came out of hibernation to make key contributions — Scotty Miller and LeSean McCoy. Shaq Barrett left his imprint all over the game and Tampa Bay capitalized on some dopey decisions by Zimmer, who was his own worst enemy. (more…)