Tampa Bay Buccaneers are ‘pretenders’ and they proved that against the Rams
It’s not what any Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan wants to hear after a bad loss, but the Bucs proved Monday night that they’re nothing more than pretenders.
The Buccaneers entered their Monday night home matchup with the Los Angeles Rams looking to prove to the nation that they could win big in primetime. In their first three primetime appearances, they looked putrid and came away with just a 1-2 record, one of those losses was a 38-3 loss at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.
The Bucs fell 7-0 in the first quarter when Jared Goff found Robert Woods for a 4-yard touchdown, but Tom Brady answered with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans early in the second quarter to tie the ballgame at 7 apiece. Leonard Fournette powered in for a score and the Buccaneers led 14-7 with 8:35 remaining, but that’s when the Rams would answer.
Los Angeles scored 10-straight points, including a 38-yard field goal from Matt Gay with just 0:01 second remaining, to take a 17-14 lead into halftime.
While the Bucs’ defense kept them in the game for much of the second half, the offense was putrid in the third quarter, mustering just eight total yards on 12 plays.
Trailing 24-17 in the fourth quarter, Jordan Whitehead made a big-time interception that set the offense up with the ball in plus territory. Brady eventually found Chris Godwin for a touchdown to tie the game at 24 with 3:53 remaining.
Unfortunately, the defense was unable to come up with a stop and Gay hit on a 40-yard field goal attempt to make it 27-24 with 2:36 remaining. While Brady still had plenty of time to lead the Bucs on a game-winning drive, he instead threw a terrible interception that clinched the game for the Rams.
The Buccaneers just don’t have the pieces to win when it matters
The defense was good for the vast majority of the night and forced a few turnovers, but they also got gashed at times, especially early, and weren’t able to make the stop when it mattered most.
But, let’s make no mistake about it: It’s the offense that makes this team a ‘pretender.’
The offense has small spurts of times when it puts together a good drive, but then they’ll go a quarter with less than 10 total yards.
Tom Brady is far too inconsistent and his offensive line certainly hasn’t helped him. The rushing attack remains almost nonexistent against any team with a decent front-seven and this game was honestly just a look at an exposed Buccaneers team.
This team isn’t good enough to beat playoff-level teams on a consistent basis. I know that’s a hard pill to swallow, but they’ve consistently proven it to be the case over the course of the season.
The good news? The season isn’t over.
While the Buccaneers may be ‘pretenders’ right now, there’s still time for them to get their act together. They still have an opportunity to develop chemistry, for Brady to get better, for the defense to continue to improve, for the play-calling to get better.
We’re not saying by any means that this team can’t make a run at the postseason, but it’s going to take a concerted effort and some major changes because it was clear Monday night that, at least for the time being, they’re pretenders.