Tampa Bay really made it tough to try and put together a most disappointing list for much of their 38-17 victory over the Detroit Lions, moving the Bucs’ winning streak to four games.
Nevertheless, here are the most disappointing performances from the Bucs on Sunday.
OT Josh Wells
With Donovan Smith being inactive for the first game of his career, Wells was tasked with filling in at left tackle on Sunday and it didn’t take long for Smith’s absence to be felt.
On the first drive of the game Wells committed two consecutive penalties, a holding penalty and a block in the back penalty, that pushed Tampa Bay back to a second-and-23 situation. On the next play Jameis Winston would throw an interception. In addition, the offensive line struggled as a whole in the run game, totaling just 50 yards on 25 carries, excluding Ryan Griffin’s kneels late.
With that said, Wells had a drew a tough straw having to fill in Smith, and held his own as a pass blocker.
OLB Jason Pierre-Paul
It’s not that Pierre-Paul played particularly poorly against the Lions on Sunday, but he was largely a non-factor. Pierre-Paul finished the contest with just one tackle.
In addition, the veteran edge rusher cost Tampa Bay 15 yards when he was flagged for an illegal blindside block on Andrew Adams’ interception return in the second quarter that would have been placed at the Detroit nine-yard line.
RB Ronald Jones and Peyton Barber
While the tandem of Jones and Barber got very little help up front, Tampa Bay was unable to get anything going by way of the ground on Sunday.
Rushing for just 49 total yards as a team, Barber and Jones got a nearly equal split of their 21 carries but took them for just 40 total rushing yards, an average of just 1.9 yards per carry. The Bucs’ longest run of the day was a six-yard carry from Jones.