Well that was a close call by the Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers made it six straight at home on Sunday against a team that we quite frankly needed to beat. The Giants are better than their 0-4 record suggests, but the Bucs needed a win to keep pace with in the NFC South. The game shouldn’t have been close, but bad play calling from the one yard line and missed kicks set up for a roller coaster finish. Jameis Winston was spectacular in the 4th quarter, and Tampa pulled out a win.
The Offense
The offense started strong early. Credit the line with opening up some holes in the run game and allowing the team to establish what type of game they wanted to play from the very first series. Jaquizz Rodgers did well, Mike Evans was – well – Mike Evans, and Winston didn’t turn the ball over.
The early running success opened up the passing game quick. Re-watch the bomb to O.J. Howard. The whole defense reacted to play-action, and Howard slipped out for a wide open score.
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The Good: 8.3
The Bucs’ yards per pass attempt was 8.3 this week. When you can basically gain 3/4 of a first down every single pass attempt, something is being done right.
Winston had himself quite a day, he and DeSean Jackson not quite syncing up yet. When they do eventually get on the same page, the offense will be hard to stop.
Oh yeah, I also heard the Douggernaut is back or something?
The Bad: 14
The amount of points left out on the filed from kicking and terrible play calling. Of course as Bucs fans, we might be a little more sensitive when it comes to missed kicks as the past few years have traumatized us. That being said, Folk needs to hit the easy ones.
Head coach Dirk Koetter also made some terrible play calls at the one-yard line in the first half of this one. I expected a play-action bootleg, a run up the gut, anything but a toss and whatever else was called there.
Last year a few folks called for Dirk to hand the play calling duties off. Let’s see if that conversation is renewed.
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The Defense
The offense that they played against is solid. Of course the offensive line wasn’t great, but the play makers the Giants have make them tough to stop.
The pass rush was once again non-existent and Eli Manning had all day to sit back and make his throws. New York’s running game was neutralized and the wide receivers were largely held in check (Thanks, Brent Grimes). This is all without Kwon Alexander, T.J. Ward and Lavonte David.
A repeat of this same defensive performance on Thursday, however, could be bad for the Bucs. Brady with time to throw will eat any team alive.
The Good: 3
The 3 represents two important stats. Brent Grimes was fantastic in coverage finishing the day with an 87.2 in coverage by PFF.
Beckham was targeted seven times with Grimes covering him, and he caught two of those for ten-yards. ESPN credits Grimes with three passes defensed as well on Sunday.
The other 3 represents the highest rated defender on Sunday, according to PFF, Gerald McCoy. The All-Pro defensive tackle registered three tackles for losses on Sunday.
On a day the Buccaneers pass rush was non-existent, McCoy was the lone bright spot on the defensive line. He still gets double-teamed a lot and he still continues to make plays.
McCoy is clearly one of the best defensive tackles in the league. Appreciate what you have Tampa.
Next: Grades from the Bucs Win Over the Giants
The Bad: 0
The 0 can represent two things. The Bucs had 0 turnovers Sunday and 0 sacks against a Giants team that has struggled with both turning the ball over and protecting the quarterback.
The defense played well enough when they needed to, but had we been missing either Grimes or McCoy we quite literally lose this game.
Those two carried this defense, and enabled them to get stops when it was most important. Scary thought if either goes down. Bottom line, pass rush needs to get better.