Week 8 is a must win for the Buccaneers. Bottom line.
When Carolina visits the home of the Buccaneers, it’ll be a week where two inconsistent teams look to get on track.
Only one can come away with a win though, so at least one fan base is going to walk away from this one with more questions than they had coming in.
Hopefully for those of you reading this, it’s a home team victory, and maybe we can see some light at the end of the tunnel 2017 has suddenly become.
What was supposed to be the on-ramp to postseason chances and the beginning of the return for the Bucs to competitive status has instead turned into a lesson on hype and frustrations.
It’s in those lessons where we find this week’s round table. All-Pro safety T.J. Ward came to Tampa Bay after being released by the Denver Broncos following the preseason.
Most of us speculated it’d take up to three weeks at the most for Ward to become a permanent fixture in the Bucs’ secondary backfield, but this has not happened.
Instead, it’s been a merry-go-round of safety combinations similar to old television games where contestants randomly hit a buzzer hoping not to get ‘whammied’.
Like the old games though, whammys happen, and for the contestants from southwest Florida it’s been happening way too often.
Perhaps this is what led to Ward’s comments this past week about his not coming to the Buccaneers to become a rotational player, and that he needed to be on the field more.
These same frustrations also likely led to Chris Baker tweeting his agreement and support of Ward’s comments.
All of this coming off the heals of a fourth disappointing loss, making it three straight after a 2-1 start to the year with some promise on the horizon.
Three weeks ago, we were all just patiently waiting for the first big bomb from Jameis Winston to DeSean Jackson. Now, some of us are calling for the jobs of coordinators and coaches, while others are clinging to the slim patience still allowed by another half season of football still to come.
Ward made his feelings known, did our staff agree with them?
Did you agree with Ward? Why or why not. Let us know! Submit your thoughts in all the usual ways: On Facebook, Twitter or through email.
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