Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Buccaneers went into Atlanta knowing a win would be virtually meaningless. Tampa Bay would not be making the playoffs, and a win against a coasting Falcons team wouldn’t be worth much, would it?

It was totally worth it.

The Falcons rested on their number 1 seed in the NFC and the Buccaneers defense had an excellent display to end the season on a positive note. The Falcons running game only had a couple of decent gains, and the passing game led by Matt Ryan was surprisingly average against an inspired Buccaneers defense. Mark Barron had a key pass break up in the fourth quarter to end the Falcons’ chances, and the Buccaneers held on for a 22-17 win.

The Buccaneers got off to a good start, holding the Falcons scoreless on their opening drive, and responding with a field goal. We appeared to have a “Good Josh” sighting, as the quarterback was accurate all through the first half. He would add a fantastic touchdown pass to Mike Williams in the 2nd quarter, and the Buccaneers had a healthy lead at the half, up 16-3.

Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Falcons came out swinging in the second half, not benching any starters, and would start their comeback. Josh Freeman threw an ugly interception to set up the Falcons with good field position in the third quarter, and they would capitalize with a Michael Turner touchdown run. The Falcons starters remained on the field for almost the entire remainder of the game, and it turned out to be a damaging decision, as defensive end John Abraham suffered what appeared to be a severe ankle injury. To add insult to the injury, the Buccaneers added a highlight run from Doug Martin, including a very nice spin move, to re-open the deficit. Going into the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers led 22-10.

In the 4th, the Buccaneers defense would allow a wide-open Harry Douglas to score a touchdown that made the game frustratingly close. Down only 5, Coach Schiano was visibly upset, coaching his defensive backs to the very end of the game, using the overhead photos to point out the weaknesses of the pass defense.  The defense would respond, with key pass break ups on a drive with less than four minutes left, stopping the Falcon’s last chance at a victory.

While the cynical Buccaneers fan will be upset the Bucs surrendered a few spots in the draft order, the reality is that this win was very, very important for Tampa Bay. Ending another season with a deflating losing streak would destroy any positive momentum the team built in October, and the upcoming offseason would feel strangely like the offseason prior.  Beating the Falcons, who snuck past the Bucs to start the losing streak, certainly added some meaning to the victory, as the win was a sort of symbolic triumph over the struggles of the past month and a half.

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports

Doug Martin was a key factor in the victory, running better than he has since before the losing streak began. He was given some good blocking on occasion, but also created yards that were not blocked for him, finding creases and exploding through them for big gains. He continued to run hard, even in week 17, dismissing the rookie wall myth as it relates to the Boise State product. Josh Freeman was over 50% completion percentage and despite making some bad throws, he was able to limit mistakes and manage the offense well. Luke Stocker was featured in the offense early, and showed he is certainly a capable backup tight end, a job he hopes to hold onto going into next season.

The offense was solid, but the defense was the surprise of the day for the Buccaneers. The Falcons as a team were held under 300 yards of total offense, and converted only 3 of 14 third downs. Those numbers were made possible by a pass defense that was much improved, as EJ Biggers and Leonard Johnson were able to stay with the Falcons’ wideouts, and Mark Barron was able to play some solid defense on Tony G. The defensive line pressured Ryan on occasion, and the Buccaneers came up with key plays in big moments, none bigger than the pass break-ups by Barron and Biggers on the final drive to put the Falcons away.

This win feels surprisingly good as a Buccaneers fan. Going into the offseason on a win, rather than a losing streak, brings an exptectant hope for next season. As we shift into looking ahead to 2013, let us not forget the effort of the Buccaneers in week 17. One of Coach Schiano’s talking points was acted upon today, as the Buccaneers fought to the very end of the game, and the season. They made Buccaneers fans proud, and hopeful for next season. There are still questions to be answered, but one thought can be put to rest… these are not the Raheem Morris Buccaneers.

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Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have lost their 5th straight game, as the St. Louis Rams traveled to Raymond James and took down the Buccaneers 28-13. Josh Freeman threw four interceptions, giving him 8 over the last two games, and these turnovers proved to be the difference. The Buccaneers fall to 6-9 on the season, and playoff discussions from just over a month ago seem like distant memories, as the Buccaneers have found themselves in an end-of-season losing streak for the second year in a row.

The Buccaneers started the game off with a 9 and a half minute drive, but a penalty on Ted Larsen in the red zone, followed by a sack, forced the Buccaneers to settle for a field goal. The Buccaneers would not see the ball on offense again until the start of the second quarter, when Sam Bradford misfired on a deep ball to Danny Amendola and Danny Gorrer capitalized. Freeman and company did not take advantage, and instead the Buccaneer quarterback threw off his back foot on 3rd and 15, and Janoris Jenkins of the Rams was in perfect position to bring in the interception and run it all the way back for a score, and the Rams would take a lead they would not relinquish.

A second Josh Freeman interception later on in the second quarter would set the Rams up with the ball before half time, and they took the ball 65 yards in 3 minutes to go up 14-6. The Buccaneers, who had all 3 timeouts, received a kickoff with 30 seconds left. Considering that the Rams would receive the second half kickoff, this would seem to be an opportunity to get the ball into field goal range and try and close the gap. The Buccaneers elected to run one play and headed into the locker room, and left any hope of winning on the field.

The Rams would start the second half with a big play to exploit a huge breakdown by the Buccaneers. The Bucs linebackers bit on a play fake, and the safeties both split to either side of the field to cover receivers. This left a huge seam down the middle of the field, and Lance Kendricks, a tight end, left his position to the right of the right tackle and streaked down the seam. He rumbled, uncontested, for an 80 yard score, and the Rams had a commanding lead that would force the Buccaneers to throw.

St. Louis Rams middle linebacker James Laurinaitis is congratulated by cornerback Trumaine Johnson after an interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The ensuing drive would be done after only 3 plays, as Josh Freeman tried to throw a short slant route to Mike Williams, but stared him down the whole way, and Williams did not run the sharpest of routes. Trumaine Johnson of the Rams jumped the route and made the easy pick, and the Rams were able to convert for a touchdown on the drive gifted to them by the Buccaneers QB.  A long Mike Williams touchdown would close the gap to 28-13, but the Buccaneers would not be able to execute a scoring drive for the remainder of the game, failing on multiple fourth down conversions, and despite the defense holding against the Rams offense on multiple occasions, Tampa Bay would fail to narrow the margin.

The Buccaneers defense never gave up, and despite losing EJ Biggers to injury early on, they contained the Rams offense fairly well. But they were put into awful positions thanks to a wasteful offense, and could not create turnovers or scores to bail out their wasteful offense. The Rams running game was contained fairly well, and Sam Bradford did not have a career game against the Buccaneers weak pass defense. Credit to the defense, they came to fight in today’s game.

The Buccaneers have one last game against the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons have wrapped up the NFC’s best record, and may not field a full strength team. Combine this with the stigma that comes with a 10-loss season, and the Buccaneers have every motivation to win next week. A number of injuries this week may limit the Buccaneers available talent next week, but it’s the play of Josh Freeman that I will be watching most closely. He has to prove he is still capable of being the same quarterback who was successful two years ago, and two months ago.  The player I have seen over the past month is not capable of being a successful NFL quarterback, and his play next week will speak to his resolve and desire to improve as a player.

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Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have tapped into something special, and their winning streak that began on the road in Minnesota three weeks ago has extended to a fourth straight week. The Buccaneers saw a 10-0 lead disintegrate and eventually went down 21-10, but the meltdown in Carolina continues and Tampa Bay was able to comeback in overtime to win it.

Josh Freeman had his first truly sloppy game in the last few weeks, but he was able to tap into his 2010 comeback king performances to lead the Buccaneers to two scores in under six minutes and then another in overtime to move the surprise Bucs to 6-4 on the year.

The Buccaneers scored with 0:12 seconds left in the game on a Vincent Jackson touchdown pass, but they needed to convert a two point conversion to tie things up. Doug Martin, who had a costly and controversial fumble earlier in the fourth quarter, was used on a brilliant play action that set up the conversion in the back of the endzone.

After that, the Bucs won the coin toss and the rest was all momentum. Dallas Clark was found in the endzone by Freeman on the very first drive of overtime, and the win (and meltdown by the Panthers) was capped off and completed.

Greg Schiano has come in and officially turned this franchise around from what it was last year. It wasn’t a pretty win, it was gritty and dirty; but the Buccaneers are winning games and their setting up quite the foundation for an incredibly bright future.