The Bucs’ Troubling Playoff Picture

[caradoc]

Not really feeling the playoff vibe from this team this year.  Injuries and other forms of personnel changes hit hard.  The absolute failure to address CB in a meaningful way leaves us in an awful position not only for this year but going forward as well.  Seriously, making it to the playoff means one extra game, that's it. 

[youngone]

We've played everybody close and been in every game this season, if we made it to the playoffs I have no doubt we'll have a chance. Maybe we'll finally get a fluke play or call to go our way. You never know. We just have to make it to the dance and we still have a chance to do so.

[JDouble]

Not really feeling the playoff vibe from this team this year.  Injuries and other forms of personnel changes hit hard. The absolute failure to address CB in a meaningful way leaves us in an awful position not only for this year but going forward as well.  Seriously, making it to the playoff means one extra game, that's it.

What would you call signing Eric Wright to a huge deal on the second day of FA? I think he sucks and I hope his days in Tampa are over, but to say we failed to address our CB is 100% false. We obviously tried.

The good news is that with Wright voiding his guaranteed money, we'll likely try again next season. Not a lot of guys out there, but there are a few. Quentin Jammer, Chris Carr, Brent Grimes, Kelvin Hayden, Marcus Trufant, Derrel Revis, Chris Houston, and Tracy Porter are all scheduled to be FAs. I know we'll draft a couple CBs, but with Wright almost certainly gone...I would think we will be targeting one or two of these FAs as well.

[olafberserker]

It's crazy that at the end the things Seattle can probably get in ahead of us because of that fluke Monday night game against Green Bay. We can thank the NFL for that one.

The Seahawks held the Greenbay Packers to 4 field goals in that game. They may have been the recipients of a bad call at the end, but they put them in a position to win in that game. They also beat the Patriots in a shoot out. Then the Seahawks went into Chicago and beat the Bears when they needed it most. That is why they will get in the playoffs. They rose up and took their opportunity....we didn't.

wait a minute, we held Dallas to 16 points and we made plays to stay in the Atlanta game.  A fluke play and we may have won either or both of those games.

Hmmm,
Packers 8-4 playoff team
Bears 8-4 playoff team
Pats 9-3 playoff team

Cowboys 6-6 and would struggle to make the 12 team playoffs if the NFL were a 12 team league.
Falcons record doesn't matter because it was a divisional game and everything goes out the window for those.

And in Seattles case there is no "IF they made a fluke play" they did make the plays while we didn't, that's a sign of a playoof team compared to a pretender.

For my money (and it pains me to say this) it doesn't matter anyway because we are likely going to be looking up at the Hawks & Skins from our 8th seed spot come playoff time.

Seattle beat Green Bay on a fluke and quite possible a wrongly called play.    Dallas has a good offense regardless of their record and we held them to 16 points.   If we were the benefactors of a fluke like play we may have beaten them and been 7-5 and our playoff picture would look much different.   And we were in the Falcons game regardless.   That was my only point in response to the poster saying Seattle rose up while implying we did not.   Although they did get it done in Chicago this past weekend and that is for sure.

So somehow the "flukes" always go the way of the Hawks and never go our way?
Sorry but I just don't buy that, teams that are ready for the postseason take advantage of situations that allow them to win close games, some call it flukes others say it's a matter of being well prepared for those situations and not blowing them.

As far as holding Dallas to 16 points, woohoo moral victory, shame they held us to 10 meaning it doesn't matter.
Doesn't help that Dallas is as average as average can be and we still couldn't beat them even after winning the turnover battle and having fewer penalties.
We didn't lose on a fluke, we lost because we choked under the pressure of being in the spotlight, playing one of the most covered teams in the NFL & media storm about "Victorygate" in New York.
You can't say "fluke" when your QB goes 10-28-110 with 1 TD 1 INT and he fumbles twice.
Maybe we should have learn more on "super rookie" Martin, oh wait he was under 3 ypc on 19 attempts so that wasn't going to work.
We might as well have been called the Tampa Bay McNabbs in that game, it wouldnn't have been a fluke play that won us that game because we weren't playing well enough to be in a position to make/capitalise on a fluke play..

My bad .... I didn't realize you were "slow" when I responded to you the first time

[dbucfan]

Not really feeling the playoff vibe from this team this year.  Injuries and other forms of personnel changes hit hard. The absolute failure to address CB in a meaningful way leaves us in an awful position not only for this year but going forward as well.  Seriously, making it to the playoff means one extra game, that's it.

What would you call signing Eric Wright to a huge deal on the second day of FA?

The kindest thought is - well, at least the bucs are spending money on FAs again.  Really - I wanted to scream.  He was a weak in Cleveland, worse in Detroit - he had issues - and I was just po'ed that after two great moves this one left me saddened. 

[Bayfisher]

Schiano has failed with many things this year but most don't want to talk about that. 

[JDouble]

Every coach has failures every season. I'd say Schiano's successes far out weigh his failures so far. Especially for a rookie HC straight from college.

Also, did Schiano hand pick Eric Wright? Or was that Dom and the pro scouting dept?

[Bayfisher]

Every coach has failures every season. I'd say Schiano's successes far out weigh his failures so far. Especially for a rookie HC straight from college.

If that was the case they wouldn't be counting on 8 other teams to get into the playoffs.  Most of the failures have been masked by competitiveness.

[Hate]

It's crazy that at the end the things Seattle can probably get in ahead of us because of that fluke Monday night game against Green Bay. We can thank the NFL for that one.

The Seahawks held the Greenbay Packers to 4 field goals in that game. They may have been the recipients of a bad call at the end, but they put them in a position to win in that game. They also beat the Patriots in a shoot out. Then the Seahawks went into Chicago and beat the Bears when they needed it most. That is why they will get in the playoffs. They rose up and took their opportunity....we didn't.

Well stated JDub, & i agree. Instead of handling our own business, we're rooting for other teams to lose. Sucks!!

[Hate]

I heard there was a delay in the hearing and they will likely play out the year.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/03/sherman-appeal-hearing-set-for-december-14/

[BucBalla85]

I think they need to win out to get in. I don't think they will though. It's gonna be tough. I see us losing to NO. This team just can't stop the pass. You won't win in the league now if you can't stop the pass.

[Bayfisher]

This team just can't stop the pass. You won't win in the league now if you can't stop the pass.

No one saw this coming.  In a passing league while being one of the worst pass defenses.  This situation is even more comical as we watch Talib and Morris in the playoffs.

[olafberserker]

we watch Talib and Morris in the playoffs.

hanging by Brady/Belicheat's and RGIII's coat strings

[Badabingnrt]

The Bucs have a chance to get in at 9-7.  Originally, I thought the path was through a little help from the Seahawks but a Bears collaspe can also be the case.

Week 14
Cowboys over Bengals
Vikings over Bears (game in Minny)
Bucs over Eagles
Ravens over Redskins
Giants over Saints
Seahawks over Cardinals

Week 15
Green Bay over Chicago (game in Chicago)
Redskins over Browns
Vikings over Rams
Saints over Bucs
Buffalo over Seattle
Pittsburgh over Dallas

Week 16
Saints over Dallas
Redskins over Eagles
Bucs over Rams
Houston over Vikings
Bears over Arizona (game in Arizona)
San Fran over Seattle

Week 17
Bucs over Falcons
Detroit over Bears (game in DET)
Vikings over Green Bay (game in Minny)
Cowboys over Redskins
Seahawks over Rams


Bucs would get in with a 9-7 record over the Bears/Vikings.  It is very important that the Vikings beat the Packers in the final week though.  I did this on the playoff machine and that game was the decider for the Bucs.

Obviously the better route would be to win out.  If we lose to the Eagles this week, which is def possible, then just forget it haha

[Theoldbuc]

It's crazy that at the end the things Seattle can probably get in ahead of us because of that fluke Monday night game against Green Bay. We can thank the NFL for that one.

The Seahawks held the Greenbay Packers to 4 field goals in that game. They may have been the recipients of a bad call at the end, but they put them in a position to win in that game. They also beat the Patriots in a shoot out. Then the Seahawks went into Chicago and beat the Bears when they needed it most. That is why they will get in the playoffs. They rose up and took their opportunity....we didn't.

wait a minute, we held Dallas to 16 points and we made plays to stay in the Atlanta game.  A fluke play and we may have won either or both of those games.

Hmmm,
Packers 8-4 playoff team
Bears 8-4 playoff team
Pats 9-3 playoff team

Cowboys 6-6 and would struggle to make the 12 team playoffs if the NFL were a 12 team league.
Falcons record doesn't matter because it was a divisional game and everything goes out the window for those.

And in Seattles case there is no "IF they made a fluke play" they did make the plays while we didn't, that's a sign of a playoof team compared to a pretender.

For my money (and it pains me to say this) it doesn't matter anyway because we are likely going to be looking up at the Hawks & Skins from our 8th seed spot come playoff time.

Seattle beat Green Bay on a fluke and quite possible a wrongly called play.    Dallas has a good offense regardless of their record and we held them to 16 points.   If we were the benefactors of a fluke like play we may have beaten them and been 7-5 and our playoff picture would look much different.   And we were in the Falcons game regardless.   That was my only point in response to the poster saying Seattle rose up while implying we did not.   Although they did get it done in Chicago this past weekend and that is for sure.

So somehow the "flukes" always go the way of the Hawks and never go our way?
Sorry but I just don't buy that, teams that are ready for the postseason take advantage of situations that allow them to win close games, some call it flukes others say it's a matter of being well prepared for those situations and not blowing them.

As far as holding Dallas to 16 points, woohoo moral victory, shame they held us to 10 meaning it doesn't matter.
Doesn't help that Dallas is as average as average can be and we still couldn't beat them even after winning the turnover battle and having fewer penalties.
We didn't lose on a fluke, we lost because we choked under the pressure of being in the spotlight, playing one of the most covered teams in the NFL & media storm about "Victorygate" in New York.
You can't say "fluke" when your QB goes 10-28-110 with 1 TD 1 INT and he fumbles twice.
Maybe we should have learn more on "super rookie" Martin, oh wait he was under 3 ypc on 19 attempts so that wasn't going to work.
We might as well have been called the Tampa Bay McNabbs in that game, it wouldnn't have been a fluke play that won us that game because we weren't playing well enough to be in a position to make/capitalise on a fluke play..

But you can say fluke when you sack strip the opposing QB (Romo) and return it for at TD but replacement refs blow it dead? That  is a fluke loss. We took advantage of the situation. Here's another fluke play that affected our season, Knowshon Moreno is sitting on the ground and PM throws it to him in desperation and he snags it one handed. (#rd down and would have ended a scoring drive. Ronde gets called for a bogus PI on third down that would have ended a TD drive and given them a fg, at best.   But you can say it's because we are not a playoff team. What will you say when we make the playoffs? Oh yeah, you'll say it was a fluke. That is lame, imho! As a Bucs fan, I say we are as good as any team we've played and if a few calls go our way we can win it all this year!