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Buccaneers Round Table: Which Bucs team is the real one?

By David Harrison

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - SEPTEMBER 24: Tampa Bay Buccaneers players link arms on the sidelines during the national anthem before the game against the Minnesota Vikings on September 24, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - SEPTEMBER 24: Tampa Bay Buccaneers players link arms on the sidelines during the national anthem before the game against the Minnesota Vikings on September 24, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 11: Brent Grimes #24 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates after the game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome on September 11, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 11: Brent Grimes #24 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates after the game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome on September 11, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

Michael Horan

In my opinion, the real Buccaneers are closer to the team we saw in week two against the Chicago Bears than they were last week against the Minnessota Vikings.

Some will be tempted to say that the Buccaneers simply beat up on a bad Bears team, and that they were exposed against better competition in the Vikings, but a closer look shows that’s probably not true. For one, the Bears aren’t that bad!

They were a fluky play away from beating the Falcons in week one, and they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime last week.

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Stomping out the Bears decisively was nothing short of impressive for the Bucs. Unfortunately the Bucs paid for their win with injuries to several star players, and these proved too much to overcome against a good Vikings squad, even with Case Keenum at the helm.

With Brent Grimes, Lavonte David, Kwon Alexander and Chris Baker all missing part of or the entire game, Tampa simply didn’t have the horses to slow down Dalvin Cook on the ground, or Diggs and Thielan through the air.

It looks like the Bucs will be without David and Alexander against the Giants, but long term the team should be able to get healthy and resemble the week two Bucs far more than the week three Bucs.

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