Buccaneers: Studs and duds from win over Eagles
By Ryan Doyle
The Duds
RB Peyton Barber
The Eagles shut down the Buccaneers rushing attack. In 16 carries, Peyton Barber gained 22 yards. The Bucs totaled just 43 yards on the ground.
After solidifying himself as the number one back during the preseason and putting together a solid game against the Saints, Barber found no success against Philadelphia.
Tampa Bay faced second-and-long situations far too often on Sunday. Luckily, the passing attack has been unstoppable, but the running game is beginning to become a problem.
Barber shouldn’t take all the blame the Eagles dominated the Buccaneers offensive line. Fletcher Cox, Michael Bennett and company clogged up every hole and left Barber with nowhere to go.
RG Caleb Benenoch
In the first quarter, Caleb Benenoch looked lost. He was getting pushed back and blown off the line consistently. Thankfully, head coach Dirk Koetter went with veteran Evan Smith late in the second quarter.
Tampa Bay takes an interesting approach at right guard. Halfway through each game, veteran Evan Smith takes over for Benenoch. The switch was earlier than usual this week as the coaching staff had to see the struggles on the right side of the line.
Much of the early struggles on the ground should be directed towards Benenoch’s ineffectiveness.
WR Mike Evans (Push)
It might be a tad harsh, but Mike Evans’ fumble in the fourth quarter gave the Eagles life. Thankfully, the Buccaneers were able to hold on for the victory.
When the team’s best weapon makes a mistake like that it usually means disaster is imminent. Add in the fact that Evans dropped a wide open pass in the first half; it looked like he could have been the goat rather than the hero.
It’s hard to criticize Evans too much. The Bucs did come away with the win, and he snagged 10 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. In the end, we will call this a push because the result was positive.