Embarassing

It took me about 24 hours to get over the shock of last nights game.  I once again ended a spectacular out of town, road game weekend with a Bucs loss.  The only word that I could mutter while leaving beautiful, loud Bank of America Stadium was embarassing.  I finally started reading articles from around the interwebs the last few hours, and my embarassing assessment might be a little harsh, since most writers are saying the game was great, yet I can only come back to one number…300. 

300 yards of rushing on the ground.  I didn’t feel like combing through pro-football reference for 3 hours, but I can pretty much gaurantee that no team in the last 10 years has ever given up 300 yards rushing and won a game.  I  might even be confident enough to say in the modern football era, this has never occurred.  The craziest part of that guestimation though, is the fact that until a 3rd and 3 run to the house from DeAngelo Williams, we had a chance to win the game.   We scored a TD with 2:30 left in the game, and subsequently tried an onside kick (not very Bucsesque, but when you can’t stop the other team, might as well try the onside) and forced 3rd and 3, but as I just said, DeAngelo broke it to the house and sealed the game. 

• One and only bright spot for the Bucs, Antonio Bryant.  That spot wasn’t just bright, it was freaking blinding.  The guy was amazing.  His one handed grab in the end zone, is one of the most incredible catches I can ever remember seeing.  I didn’t appreciate it’s true beauty until watching some replays from the game this evening.   He finished the night with 9 catches for 200 yards and 2 TD’s.  He’s now a virtual lock for at least 75 catches, and 1,000 yards (currently at 66 rec and 986 yards) and probably 7 TD’s (currently at 5).  He is a definite Pro Bowl caliber player for the Bucs, and in my opinion, the biggest steal of FA this past offseason.  Hey Steve Duemig, who would have thought, you were absolutely 100% off your rocker again.  Idiot. 
• What a dangerous combination DeAngelo WIlliams and Jonathan Stewart are.  Obviously they carved us up last night, but the combination of speed and power they bring to the table has to scare the shit out of every team in the league.  They are firing on all cylinders right now, and the league should take notice. 
• With the Giants loss this weekend, the Bucs and Panthers are the only two undefeated home teams remaining. 
• Where in gods’ name was our defensive line.  I just got done saying how good the RB’s for the Panthers were, but on a few of those big runs, the holes were gaping.  Jovan Haye was out, and Kevin Carter wasn’t feeling well, but for real?  Worst showing by a Bucs team on defense in 10 years.  Just a damned shame.  Our defensive line is our strength and on Monday it was our weakness.
• Most sites from around the net are talking about the possibility of the Panthers taking the number one seed, but there is still a solid chance that they don’t even win the division.  They have a home game vs the Broncos this weekend, than a road game vs the Giants in the Medowlands (which just happened to replace our Sunday night vs the Chargers) and a road game vs the Saints.  We play the Falcons on the road, than the Chargers and the Raiders at home.  They could easily lose the last two games, and we could easily win out.  Even if the Panthers lose to either the Saints or Giants, it would land us with the tiebreaker needed to move to 1st place in the division (conference record).  A lot can still happen in the final 3 weeks of the year.