Yesterday's spanking of the Carolina Panthers was the best complete performance this Buccaneers team has put together since the Liam Coen days. And I mean that without any reservation. This team did everything right on Sunday afternoon in Charlotte.
Run the ball and control the clock? Check. Get after Bryce Young consistently? Check. Force turnovers? Check. Dominate on special teams? Check. Win the coaching battle from the opening drive to the final whistle? Check, check, and check.
It was beautiful. It was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football we have been waiting to see all season long.
BUT NOW COMES THE UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTION
Now let me be clear about something before anyone gets too comfortable. It takes two teams to produce a game like that. One team to nail every assignment, execute the game plan, and get every bounce. And one team to not show up, lose every individual battle, and hand you momentum you did nothing to earn. Both things were happening simultaneously at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday.
But here is what I cannot dismiss regardless of Carolina's performance. This Buccaneers team has not put together anything remotely close to that type of complete game even through last season. Not once. That level of three-phase dominance simply had not been on display. So something was different on Sunday. The question is what.
THIS IS WHERE MY RESERVATIONS STAY
Has this coaching staff finally figured out what this group of players does well? Because Sunday sure made it look that way. And if that is the answer, then the follow-up question is painfully obvious.
Why did it take seven weeks and a 1-5 record to figure it out?
This team is too talented to be sitting at 2-5 at this point of the season. Sunday proved that talent is genuinely there. The running game was dominant. The pass rush was ferocious. The secondary created turnovers. The special teams made plays. That is not an average roster. That is a roster that has been underperforming its talent level for most of this season, and that falls on the coaching staff before it falls on the players.
A complete game like Sunday's gives me real hope for the rest of this season. It also gives me continued and very real reservations about a coaching staff that needed seven weeks of struggle to unlock what was apparently sitting right there in front of them the whole time.
WHAT WE WANT
We want to cheer this team on every Sunday the way we did yesterday. Every single week. That is not a complicated ask. The talent is there. Sunday proved it beyond any reasonable doubt.
I just hope the coaches can find a way to stop being an obstacle to it.
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Why did it take seven weeks and a 1-5 record to figure it out?
Maybe it didn't.Â
the Bucs are better, particularly on defense, but still not great especially offense.Â
so they lost close games against teams that are mostly better than people anticipated. Close games even without Mayfield.Â
the offense is suspect but the line is as good as we all remember and mostly healthy and so is Irving so we catch to run susceptible teams who underestimated usÂ
real test is AtlantaÂ
Why did it take seven weeks and a 1-5 record to figure it out?
Maybe it didn't.Â
the Bucs are better, particularly on defense, but still not great especially offense.Â
so they lost close games against teams that are mostly better than people anticipated. Close games even without Mayfield.Â
the offense is suspect but the line is as good as we all remember and mostly healthy and so is Irving so we catch to run susceptible teams who underestimated usÂ
real test is AtlantaÂ
I could add that it's possible Robinson never figures it out. He can handle calling a simpler run heavy offense (having finally come around to gap) but the more complex passing game will always allude him.Â
WHAT WE WANT
We want to cheer this team on every Sunday the way we did yesterday. Every single week. That is not a complicated ask. The talent is there. Sunday proved it beyond any reasonable doubt.
Amen
