1. I will assume last week was Lovie shaking off the rust of play calling and being caught off guard with that style of offense. Defensive calls were a lot better today. Bucs played a lot of m2m just like last week but they were contesting the receivers at the line this time which was a welcomed adjustment. 2. Bucs seem to be featuring a rotation of defensive backs depending on down and distance utilizing Conte, Moore, Jennings, Tandy, etc. This week they had Jennings shadowing Cooks. 3. Bucs defenders actually were hitting their gaps and were around the ball. Still, the run defense can be better with someone stepping up to fill the holes. Lavonte needs to clean up and avoid the trash as the WILL in this defense has to "flow" and make plays on the ball carrier. Alexander is still learning to avoid the trash, but he looks stout at the point of attack. Tackling has to improve still.4. Koetter called a good game, and actually utilized a lot of two tight end sets taking a page out of Wisenhunt's approach. It helped given the Bucs OTs are not playing at a high level at the moment. With that said Donovan Smith has impressed me so far, and maybe he is cut out to be a LT in the pros? 5. Not only did Martin run with purpose, but Sims showed some power and grinding which surprised me. If these two can grind like that for yards after contact this will help the offense immensly.6. Special teams wasn't an embarasssment. It helps that Rainey looks like a competent returner as well with his decision making but also willing to turn it upfield if need be.7. J. Smith and company brought heat. I see a lot of concern over G. Johnson but I think he is just getting used to being a three downs guy instead of a rotational player. Fatinkun must be highly regarded by the coaching staff, and I assume when he returns he is the "third" DE.8. Winston has mechanics issues, which were apparent since the pre season game against the Bengals. But these can be fixed. He made five NFL level throws in this game that were tight windows. Winston is masterful throwing down the seem and against zone defenses. Where Winston struggles is when going to the sidelines as his long delivery is telegraphing to defenders. If Koetter wants to call more screen games I would stick with WR's screens. The slow developing HB screens seem to not work with Winston's slow delivery and lobs thus far. Winston also need to learn to climb the pocket, but that will come in due time.9. The offensive line wasn't playing poorly, but I can't praise them with all the penalties they had. EDS wasn't bad while he was in there but it is not like he was missed when he went out. 10. It is good to see a team prepared to play football for a change. Lets hope they continue to look NFL average from this point forward.
