The Buccaneers lost a heart breaker on Thursday night when the Patriots came into Raymond James and ended their six game home winning streak.
Defense for the Buccaneers showed up. Missing however, were four starters. Despite this, the defense held Tom Brady to 19-points while hitting him multiple times and producing three sacks and a forced fumble.
The offense was a different story. Doug Martin was the lone bright spot in what was a disappointing game. Seems like every year the Bucs have a “prove it” type of game, and every year they can’t get over the hump.
This game was very winnable, but missed opportunities and field goals took the game right out of their grasp. It wasn’t like the Patriots waltzed in and stomped on the Bucs. Rather, they struggled, but in the end it was who made the most plays when it counted.
They now have 10 days to hopefully get healthy, get some defenders back and most importantly move the play calling duties into the hands of Todd Monken.
Oh, and I guess we should probably find a guy who can give us three points when we need to have three points on the board. 2-2 at the quarter of the season mark isn’t terrible and the Buccaneers are still very much in it. Let’s cheer for some NFC South losses this weekend.
Before we do though, here’s some individual winners and losers from the Bucs in their team loss to the Patriots.