With Jeremy Trueblood out and Demar Dotson in at RT, the Bucs O-Line was able to hold off the pass rushing phenoms of New York through most of the game. Out of the two sacks on Freeman, only one was a direct result of poor play – as Donald Penn allowed Jason Pierre-Paul to get inside and right to Freeman. The first sack, LB Chase Blackburn was not picked up on the blitz and cleaning got into the Bucs’ backfield.

The front five played well in pass protection overall. Freeman’s interception was a result of two things in the play. First, the pressure was on Freeman as he was throwing and two, there was a no-call on Kenny Phillips for his helmet-helmet hit on Jackson. The end result was the Bucs’ first turnover of the season, but thankfully on the following Giants possession, Brandon McDonald intercepted Eli Manning which led to a Tampa Bay touchdown.

Through most of the game, the pass protection was solid, but the front five struggled with blocking in the run-game. Between Doug Martin (20 attempts), Preston Parker (1 attempt), and D.J. Ware (1 attempt) the Bucs rushed for a combined 79 yards.

It’s definitely promising that the O-Line contained the fierce front four of the Giants’, but there needs to be cause for concern that they can’t break 100 yards on the ground between three ball carriers, considering Tampa Bay is supposed to be a run-first offense.

In a sense, they will get a do-over next week as the Cowboys aren’t too shabby in the front seven department either.

Grade = C+ The pass protection was there for the most part, but a run-first team needs to have holes to penetrate.

Key 2. Freeman Has To Make Clark His Bail Bondsman

As PewterReport.com predicted before the game, Clark was open constantly in the middle of the field, twice on the opening drive. The first time, the result was the 41-yarder to Jackson, so no harm no foul.

Freeman passed the ball in the flats to Clark with 9 minutes left in the second quarter but Clark was hit in the backfield for a loss of three.

Other than that, just as we told you on Friday, Clark was open in the middle just about every time he was on the field. Freeman loves staring down Jackson and Williams, but if he looked at what was right in front of, he would have seen a tight end with nothing but green around him.

On the series that resulted in seven points with around  four minutes remaining in the game, the Bucs ran a versions of the hurry-up style offense we saw repeatedly in training camp called a T-4 drill. The moniker stands for the Bucs being a touchdown down with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The possession played out just as it had been rehearsed in practice, with Clark being the recipient of three consecutive passes that netted the offense 36 yards and capped off with a 44-yard over the shoulder catch by Mike Williams in the end zone.

The final target Clark saw was on the final drive of the game for the Bucs as Freeman tried to go over the middle to hit his tight end again, probably hoping for the same result. Unfortunately, Clark was already brought to the ground by a defender and the ball landed into the hands of LB Michael Boley. The pick sealed the deal for the Giants who kneeled down for the final seconds of the game.

At this point, it is a great mystery as to what the Bucs’ plans for the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl winning tight end are. Clark is in fantastic shape, and his football IQ is off the charts. As the Bucs’ offense has been called the little brother to big brother New York, it’s safe to say Clark will never see the target he did when he was with Eli’s big brother, as the Giants haven’t had a tight end heavy playbook for a couple of years.

Clark is best used as a go-to guy, as the elder Manning did for eight seasons. Once Freeman starts having enough time to go through all of his progressions, Clark should be the third look on his list, and at times when he doesn’t have the time, Clark should be one of the first looks.

Grade = B- In totality there were probably three first downs that would have been a result of Freeman passing to Clark, but the reception in the flat for -3 yards and the fact he was the intended receiver in the late pick hurts the grade.

Key 3. CBs need to work smarter, not harder

As good as Hakeem Nicks’ and Victor Cruz’s days were – consider this: they could have been even better.

Nicks finished the game with 10 receptions for 199 yards and a touchdown, while Cruz ended the game with 11 receptions for 179 yards and a score.

On every reception that made it to Nicks, Aqib Talib allowed the third year fourth year receiver out of North Carolina to get inside. On the plays where Talib muscled his way inside of Nicks, Nicks did not have one catch.

As the game went on, Giants’ OC Kevin Gilbride started to expose the weakness of both Talib and Eric Wright to stay inside the New York receivers. Frankly, in the case of Wright covering Cruz, Cruz was just the bigger, quicker, and smarter football player. Then Wright left the game when his back injury flared up, and Brandon McDonald stepped in. The Giants also targeted the middle of the field often, essentially where there was little to no coverage at all through much of the contest. 

Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan made no adjustments at all to the middle coverage, continually allowing his secondary to be out-classed. Cruz was used in the slot – so New York could attack the weakness of coverage in the middle and take advantage of the Wright-McDonald mismatch on Cruz.

As bad as everyone will say Talib played, inconsistent is the more operable word. During the times Talib played Nicks very tight and physical, Talib outmatched Nicks, the problem was he didn’t play him that way throughout the entirety of the game.

Forcing turnovers weren’t a problem for the corners as Wright and McDonald both picked Manning off in the first half, with Wright’s interception returned 60 yards for six points, and McDonald’s interception resulted in an offensive TD, but both times the TB corners had great read and react times. The man coverage was the problem.

The other problem that the corners had was the penalties. Twice Talib was flagged – once for holding and the other for pass interference, while Wright was flagged for a holding call. The total yardage given up was only 26, but giving up three free first downs to the Giants proved costly as the penalties netted New York 10 points combined.

Grade = D Rule one of playing man-coverage in the NFL is never ever let the receiver inside. The Bucs corners allowed it to happen all day.

Key 4. McCoy Needs To Rinse, Repeat
For much of the first half, McCoy was able to keep pressure on the Giants’ O-Line, although he could never penetrate it. His motor didn’t stop as he constantly kept his feet moving and tried to drive the guard backwards into Manning.

Twice the Bucs’ D-Line got enough pressure on the two-time Super Bowl MVP to force two ill-timed passes that resulted in interceptions, but unfortunately, being on the field for the majority of the game took its toll on Tampa Bay’s front four.

Football is made up of moving parts, and when one of the parts – in this case the defensive line – is working overtime, it will wear down over time. That’s exactly what happened with McCoy & Co. in the second half; they just got worn down until the pass rush was non-existent.

The best way to ensure this doesn’t happen is keep them off the field longer, also known as Key 1 above.

Grade = D- Although the grade isn’t necessarily fair, considering McCoy was on the field for over 33 minutes, when he was fresh at both the start of the game and the first Giants’ possession of the second, he still couldn’t adequately get through the line of scrimmage. The help McCoy got was slim-to-none, and he was double teamed throughout the game, but overall the entire pass rush was lacking through those 33 minutes.

Key 5. The X Factors Have To Pay Dividends

The grade on this key is going to be low. In fact, the only thing saving it from not being an F is that the two interceptions by the corners were due to great reads on Manning, and the fact that the Bucs held the Giants to four field goals in their first four trips to the red zone.

But then it all went incredibly wrong. No one knows the Giants wide receivers and quarterback better than Mike Sullivan, and even with the knowledge he has of the New York offense the Bucs defense allowed 510 yards of passing, 21 first downs, and 41 total points.

The execution was definitely lacking at times by the Bucs secondary, but there were no adjustments made to counter Manning’s air attack. We’ll never know how much Sullivan and former Giants RB D.J. Ware went to Schiano and Sheridan with what they thought could be helpful hints, but as it stands, the Bucs had the ability to stop the Giants passing game and didn’t do it.

Grade = D For someone that knows the ins and outs of the Giants passing game, Sullivan either kept the knowledge to himself or the defensive coaches refused to listen. Either way, more should have been done, all things considered.