Buccaneers: 3 players who stepped up in week 1 letdown

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell flat in their week one matchup with the New Orleans Saints, but these three players had excellent games.

The massive hype train following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers felt too big for various reasons, but the Bucs still underperformed in their first matchup with the New Orleans Saints.

Everyone knew that this team had some serious growing to do with an abbreviated offseason and a lack of any preseason games. With a new quarterback in a different offense, the Bucs would’ve loved to play a few games before the Saints in a less stressful environment, but in life, you have to play with the cards you’ve been dealt.

Despite the overall letdown of the loss, the Buccaneers did show some flashes that should keep the outlook positive for this team. Tampa Bay put together an excellent showing offensively and defensively in the first quarter, and Tom Brady is still a great fit in this offense.

There are definitely still some kinks to work out before the next game, but everyone shouldn’t jump off of the bandwagon just yet. The Bucs are trying to pull off a massive culture shift, and those don’t just happen overnight.

The best thing going for the Bucs right now is that there were several great individual performers yesterday, and these three players were able to step up in massive ways.