A win, then a loss; a win, then a loss. That’s been the Bucs season so far. It’s easy to praise when things are going right, and there are still good things that happen in losses, but the disappointments are bigger, for sure.
These were our most disappointing Buccaneers from the 19-14 loss to the Patriots.
Nick Folk
He disappointed. Greatly.
Jameis Winston
Winston finished the game 26-for-46 with 334 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, so was his game really that bad?
Yes.
Winston was extremely inconsistent all game. He couldn’t sustain drives with simple passes, and worst of all, he couldn’t hit from beyond 20 yards. We’ve been saying this for too long now. This offense won’t get better until he starts playing better than his statistics indicate.
Vernon Hargreaves
Is it the coaches or is it Hargreaves that asking him to play the style of defense he is? No one knows except for him and the coaches, but whatever it is, it’s bad. Hargreaves plays far too timid, and good quarterbacks burn him for it.
The pass rush not existing doesn’t help, but at some point he has to get aggressive and make a play for himself. He rarely has four games in, and is instead getting picked on and manipulated.
Play Calling
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
It was questionable last week when the Buccaneers failed to score on the goal line from six inches away, and tonight it flourished into a full game plan of ineffectiveness. After a half that did not see much success, there were not many adjustments. The Bucs neglected the running game, despite Doug Martin’s success, and just continued to out-think themselves.
They make things harder on themselves with how they call games, and we don’t know why. Keep it simple.
Pass Rush
The Bucs got three sacks this game, which is the most they’ve had in a single game this season, but Brady was comfortable all night, and without a few overthrows and drops, they would have had an even easier night.
Now, some could say, “they did hit their average points per game,” which is true, but they basically hit their average yards per game because the Bucs defense was not aggressive in any unit of the field.
It starts with pass rush, but it was really the lack of aggression from the whole defense.
They won’t beat many good quarterbacks playing that soft.