Hey! Good things happened, too! We promise!
There was plenty to be disappointed with in the Bucs defeat to the New England Patriots, 19-14, but there were some bright spots in some key area which will be building blocks moving forward.
These were our most impressive Buccaneers from Thursday Night Football.
Doug Martin
Man, what a great first night back for the man many have waited to see for a long, long time.
Martin finished the game with 74 yards on 13 carries. That’s a healthy 5.7 yards per carry average – the problem is that he didn’t get more carries.
Doug looked to be back to his old self with fresh legs. They’ll definitely need that moving forward.
Justin Evans
The rookie safety, who has been under much criticism early on despite not play much, had a fantastic debut with nine tackles and an interception.
Evans did have one or two missed tackles, but overall he looked much more confident, explosive to the ball, and we even saw him lay a few big hits like he did when he was at Texas A&M.
His first start was very promising.
Kendell Beckwith
So much is being asked of Beckwith and he consistently steps up to the plate.
With Kwon Alexander and Lavonte David both out again, Beckwith was the man in the middle – which is a tough task against Tom Brady. Beckwith led the team with 13 tackles and was, for the most part, reliable in open space. He had a lot of responsibility tonight and delivered.
DeSean Jackson
Jackson’s game was fantastic– and it should have been even better.
Jackson has a knack for playing big in big games and with 106 yards on five catches, he certainly did. Jackson even had two other instances where he had his man beat down the field for a few big plays which he and Winston couldn’t connect on.
From Jackson’s stance, he was the offensive player of the game along with Martin.