Grim Reaper you must be out of your mind to rag on Lavonte David like that, I think you are WAY off base in your assessment, everything considered, the man has been nothing less than outstanding, for a rookie to play like he has (very similar to D Brooks in his rookie campaign), I'm thinking you just don't like Nebraska, because there is no way you can criticize this young LB with great instincts!

Sorry but Lavonte David can't be the most impressive when he gave up two TD's in pass defense. For example, EJ Biggers was least impressive in the Oak game after having a career day, because he gave up ONE TD. For a LB who doesn't even cover on every play to give up two TD's is terrible. Lavonte David was the least impressive player IMO. He needs to clean up the mistakes in his pass defense that are costing us games. Lavonte David has given up more TD's through the air than ANY of our "terrible secondary" guys this year.

It was hard putting anyone on the impressive list because no one really stood out. But when you have a player that leads the team in tackles, got a carreer high three tackles for loss, and his first interception then that's impressive.

Okay - I'm with macabee on the Schiano thing...I don't think we were even going to beat Denver by kicking field goals; and yes the victory rush thing is passe now...please give it up. Warren - with you on Denver was a better team but not by that much and we could have snuck this one. Bucjoe - hear you on the Bennett to DT thing, but the guy has been invisible for weeks and it's his contract year. On Leonard Johnson - yes the kid has some promise but he's not a #1CB...we all get that...why then does he end up on the most disappointing list...did anyone expect him to shut-down the Denver passing attack by being left 1-on-1....I think he probably played as well as he could, not disappointing but we have to have him playing nickel. And finally, Freeman...the most disappointing...come on...his 1 INT came when Martin completely let the Denver lineman go and crush Freeman in mid throw from the blind side....he wasn't great on teh day, but there were clearly disappointing performances and they mostly came from the O-line!!!!!!!...and the coaches (where again I don't understand the conservative field goal kicking in this game, or as macabee, the run first mentality when we get teh slightest lead - play to the end).

Denver was clearly the better team Sunday. Denver looks like it may make some noise in the playfoofs. After Denver's first series, I thought it was gonna be pitch & catch for them all day and they would rack up 40 points. Glad to see our defense hang in there enough to make a game of it. Also glad to see Biggers turn in a good job. In the past, he's always been a step behind, but did well Sunday. Just a GENERAL observation: One thing that has been noticeable during this season is that the Bucs don't have speed comparable to other teams at the WR position (incl. Underwood, Jackson, Williams) and ALL of the DB positions...Not that we lost this game because of lack of speed; and it's not that the Bucs need a ton of speed, but speed is nice to have to stretch the field or cover speedy WRs.

Underwood has been clocked as low as 4.29 in the 40!

At least PART of the problem with Bennett "not penetrating enough" was that he was playing DT, not DE on obvious passing plays yesterday. I thought this might happen next season if he is re-signed and Clayborn is back. I have been posting it for about 3 or 4 weeks now. I also expect Bowers to be used that way next season when they are confident his achilles and his knee are both in good shape. As to the dline not putting enough pressure on Manning, it never ceases to amaze me at the expectations for the pass rush when the opposing QB is running plays where he is getting the ball off in 2 to 2.5 seconds which is what Manning did on almost every pass play yesterday. There were a few where he took longer but not many. Ryan of the Falcons did the same thing. When a QB does that, you can only sack or pressure him if you are either completely unblocked or your blocker completely whiffs on you. IMO, it also speaks more to the coverage than the pass rush. As to Johnson, IMO the PI call was completely wrong as was the one of Ronde. In addition, the TD pass thrown against Johnson was despite GREAT coverage. His ONLY problem on that one was that it was clear he didn't see the ball and he was in great position to intercept it. This is a rookie who is starting long before he is ready to and is giving quality play despite that, IMO.

Correct. When QBs release the ball quickly , the the cure is DL have their hands up and CBs jam the receivers. Are CBs are so young or so bad we can't do that. We ahve to play back.

i dont like to make excuses for a loss but i feel like there were a lot of penalties against the broncos that were never called..i can think of a 2 blatant holds on Moreno runs that were not called and two PI's that were never called when we got two PIs that were pretty iffy. that being said we didnt deserve to win this game anyways...Free played like crap and I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WE DONT RUN THE HURRY UP OFFENSE UNTIL THE END OF THE GAME!!!! AND I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY DJ WARE GETS PLAYING TIME ON 3RD DOWN OVER DOUGY...seems like Doug would be a way better 3rd down RB, hes proven he can black and catch when Ware just stands around every 3rd down...

I wouldn't call Bowers impressive since you pay D ends to sack quarterbacks and like the rest of his mates Bowers didn't come close. However I will admit at this point he might be our best D lineman. It's time to start him, and do some more shuffling up front in an effort to find a pass rush.

I thought we played a decent game considering who we played. I agree with most everyone that we did our best. Leonard Johnson at this point in his short career has been asked to be a starter when really he should be the nickel back, but there is no one else in front of him and he has been put in a tough spot. Anybody knows the status on Lewis? I think he is gone for the rest of the season and now we have to bring in some more CB's and there's not much out there. It appears to me that when we get our injured back for next season we are still short 2 starting CB's and a DT. After that I think we should look for a TE, RB, backup Center and OT. I am not sure that we should spend a lot of money on Free Agency. I would also demand McCoy, Wright, Black to take less next season or cut them. I would give Freeman a new contract as he has earned it. He is an above average starting QB and deserves to be rewarded for it.

In Free agency we need a starting caliber CB. Draft a CB High), TE, OT, DT, RB . We really miss Adrian C. With him and Bowers, and with Bennent as backup we are good.

For all the criticism that some players are receiving, I'm ready to lay some blame at the feet of Schiano. He is playing too conservative to win big games. As soon as we got the first half lead, our offense went into a run first, don't take any chances mentality. That is Schiano's doing and this isn't the only game where this has occurred. There are lots of things to praise him for this year, but if we're going to be an offensive-led team (we have no defense that can lead now), you have to play offensively the whole game! And while I'm at it, would somebody upstairs please call down and tell Schiano to shelve the victory charge. We get it, but it looks ineffective and out of place in todays NFL, especially when your butt has been soundly whipped!

For all the future upside that Leonard Johnson has, today he can’t play man CB which this defense calls for. In order to play bump-and-run, you must be able to bump and jam the WR at the LOS, then release and have the speed to recover as the WR goes downfield. LJ lines up 5 to 10 yards off of his man and takes off downfield for fear of giving up the deep ball. His lack of speed may not allow him to ever be a #1 corner on the outside. Too early to be sure, but QBs are going to single him out every time!

We have to be realistic about the offense with backups at both guard positions its going to be pretty hard to say we are going to run the ball each week regardless of the opponent. I feel like the Bucs should come out more aggressively in the passing game and then soften the defense up for Doug Martin. When you rush for 200 plus yards in a game you are no longer a secret and defenses are going to gameplan to take you out of the offense. That said the offense looked fine you take away Freeman's pick 6 and its a game at the end. Going into mile high facing Peyton Manning I think the defense did all they could to give us a chance and today we made one too many mistakes. We faced a better team today but we have 4 very winnable games left in the Eagles, Rams, New Orleans and an Atlanta that will have nothing to play for and will probably rest their starters. Use this as a learning and finish up 10-6 like we should. Go Bucs!

I give Leonard Johnson a lot of credit for his efforts. The pass interference calls on he and Ronde were pretty ticky-tack to me especially when a Bronco defender did far worse with no flag thrown. Outside of the 3rd quarter, I thought the defense held up well and was certainly not lit up like many expected. The biggest problem I'm seeing is that for some reason the opponents have figured out how to stop Doug Martin which is having a ripple effect on the passing game.

Good read Haley

I think the Bucs just got beat by the greatest quarterback of all time. No shame in that.

Yeah we got beat by a team that might go all the way this year. I have always liked Peyton Manning. It has been pointed out that all our losses have been against QB's of the caliber of Manning. Well,we all know why. Pass rush and secondary! Both will need serious attention in the off season.

This game should not come as a surprise except for flash I guess, Peyton vs our secondary with no pass rush was doomed from the start, I did appreciate how the bucs still had fight in them even after the Bronco's took the tempo and control of this game in the third quarter. They need to stop the bush league rushing the kneel down stuff its tiresome and embarrasing. most impressive Lavonte David, Bowers, Mike Williams most dissapointing McCoy, Dotson, L Johnson, Doug Martin