The Buccaneers backup quarterback got his revenge Sunday against his former team. After what feels like years, they finally got one. They played well enough in all facets of the game, but the defense played extremely well against a Jets offense that was has been surprisingly good this season.
Coming into Sunday things looked grim for a reeling Buccaneers team who were losers of five straight games. Then suddenly, something happened, the team played with some resolve. The defense locked down, the offense was below average, again, but did enough to get the win. What do we do now? Sitting at 3-6 on the season of course the Bucs will try to win every single game like they always do, but what exactly will this season end up turning into. Tampa have only played two division games and 2 of their losses have come at the hands of AFC teams which doesn’t mean a ton…… Sunday seems to be the pivot point in the season. The postponed game will be the deciding factor in the season. Win? The Bucs still have the slightest glimmer of hope. Lose? Edge rushers and coaching options will be the talk of the town, in November.
The Offense
The Good: 3/3
Honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot of good from the offense in this game. If anything, Patrick Murray kept us in the game for quite a while. Three-for-three with a long of 49 is pretty much amazing considering what we have gone thru with the kicking game the past couple years. Regardless the offense did enough. The run game was lacking, the pass game wasn’t great, but with Murray kicking well and a clutch touchdown towards the end the Bucs pulled out the win. 34 pass attempts from Fitzgerald is less than ideal.
The Bad: 90
This team needs a rushing attack to succeed and Doug Martin isn’t getting it done. I’m not sure if it’s Martin or the offensive line. I have been a big supporter of his, but the results the pass few weeks in the rushing attack have been weak to say the least.
The team thrives off of play action and roll-outs which very rarely are going to work if the defense doesn’t fear the run. Big part of the reason the offense has been so abysmal the past few weeks. 72-yards from the running backs two weeks ago against the Panthers and only 41 from them against the Saints. The offense needs to find a way to get Martin going, Charles Sims and Jacquizz Rodgers are not the answer, nor is starting Peyton Barber.
Listen, Martin has it in him, but something is not quite clicking. Hopefully film study this week will make that “something” more evident this week.
The Defense
Finally they step up. The defense played just well enough and the offense gave them some help. Last week was a tall order to stop an offense like the Saints have set up, but this week the much more manageable, albeit hot, Jets team came into Tampa and they defense was ready.
The Good: 6
On a day where Adrian Clayborn had the same amount of sacks as our entire team, at least we can be grateful we got some. Mike Smith was a little more liberal with the blitz and it worked. McCown was tossed around a few times as several Bucs notched a sack. The defense as a whole performed well, but as we have discussed before, pass rush is key in the success of any defense. you can have the best secondary in the NFL, if you don’t have a pass rush, it’s all for not.
Next: Bucs Had Players Only Meeting
The Bucs pass rush was awake and alive, but regardless it is a group that needs help heading into next season. There was very little that went wrong on Sunday for the Bucs defense. They forced two turnovers, held the Jets to 56 rushing yards and only allowed a score very late in the game because of a penalty. Will this group find a way to keep it together as the season draws to a close? Do we even want them to? It’s very hard for me to suggest we should lose, but with playoffs as far off into the distance as it is, what do we do?