Ding, dong, a pair of wicked witch curses are over for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Less than a week after snapping the dreaded primetime curse, the Bucs slayed two more on Sunday against the Jets. One of them was the creamsicle curse, which is more of an invention among fans than actual witchcraft, but it still stung.
Since bringing the throwbacks back into the uniform rotation, the Bucs had yet to win a game while wearing them until Sunday. That changed with the blowout win over the Jets, and it sort of sands the edges off what was one of the more annoying curses that seemed to follow Tampa Bay around.
It wasn't without some classic drama, though. After being up by 17-points in the fourth quarter, the Bucs fell behind thanks to a pair of touchdowns by the Jets offense and a diabolical blocked field goal return for a touchdown by Will McDonald.
Despite the odds, the Bucs battled back and won their third straight game as time expired.
Perhaps the bigger curse was the one that went unspoken, primarily since it was so frustrating. The Bucs have started 2-0 six times since 2005, which is the last time the team didn't fumble the bag in Week 3.
That curse is now miraculously -- and mercifully -- over.
Buccaneers snapped a two decade-long streak in Week 3 win over Jets
In each of the last four seasons, the Buccaneers lost games in Week 3 to end their winning streaks at the start of the year. Last year, they fell into a trap game against Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos, and the stars seemed to align for another trap door to open under them again.
But then it didn't.
Five holding penalties on the first drive are the type of stuff that didn't exactly help put fears that another Week 3 loss was in store to bed. But the Bucs managed to correct course and remembered they were the better team before things went too far off the rails.
Emeka Egbuka had a thrilling one-handed catch that helped lead to a score and right before halftime Jamel Dean cracked the game wide open with an electrifying pick-six. From there the Bucs kicked it into the gear they should have been in the whole game and ran away with the victory.
It's hard to overstate just how massive breaking this curse -- and keeping the right streak alive -- is. The Bucs came into Sunday's game with a MASH unit for offensive line, with three starters out including All-Pro Tristan Wirfs. Caljiah Kancey was placed on season-ending IR during the week, as was Cody Mauch and all of the injuries threatened to kill the positive vibes that had been brewing.
Everything about Sunday's game, from the injuries to the fact that Tyrod Taylor was starting, seemed to suggest we were in for another letdown. That didn't happen, and it's a trend that continues to grow as the season wears on.
This makes three straight weeks of the Bucs subverting our expectations, from the win in Atlanta to pulling out a thrilling comeback win on the final drive of Monday Night Football in Houston, to mounting another game-winning drive despite the odds.
At every turn this Bucs team has looked different, and Sunday was no different. It was ugly, but Tampa Bay is 3-0 and that's all that matters.
We're only three weeks into the season, and it's a small sample size, but everything suggests the Bucs might have finally turned a corner. At the very least, the 50th anniversary of the franchise's existence has been celebrated with three straight weeks of thrilling moments and longstanding curses being broken -- not too shabby.
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