Bucs vs. Panther Running Game Day Commentary

It wasn't the play-calling, it was Davis. There was a hole big enough for any of us to run through, and Davis ran smack into the pile instead of taking one step to his left to get the first down. Damn, I just hate to see a guy embarrass himself like that out there. Stephen Davis has given this franchise some great days, but he needs to be inactive for the rest of the season and then retire. Nick Goings can be our back-up RB for now (or our starter for all I care).

Laughter takes the sting out of a loss ... for about three seconds. *sigh*



Wharton got a little bit of help, but he played reasonably well on Rice. Gross struggled a bit, but his main problem was in knowing his assignments. I've noticed on blitz pick-up throughout the year that sometimes Gross just doesn't know what he's doing, and it boggled my mind that he slid down to let Ronde Barber come free. I mean wtf? He had to know the TE had another man outside of Barber, and there was no need to help down.

The defense played pretty well overall, but obviously got worn down as we kept giving Tampa good field position.

The INT was extremely costly and gave away our last chance at winning, but I don't know that it was a terrible throw so much as a good play by Barber. It was a bad throw, but not one of Jake's patented stupid ones in my opinion. It was an INT many quarterbacks make every week, but the timing was absolutely killer. Oh, and who was it that kept talking about how Jake had never thrown an INT in the redzone? Fuck you, jinxer.

Tampa Bay wanted it today as badly as we wanted it last week, which is exactly what I feared. They hit, they played with more effort, and they deserved to win.

Jon Gruden and Monte Kiffin completely out-coached our staff today.

Chris Simms seems to have a future in this league, but he needs a god damned haircut.

 

Gruden really came with a nice scheme. Confused us with movement, kept guys in to block, and won with short passes and the running game. He didn't put Simms in a position where he would get a lot of pressure.

And they obviously out hit us.

 

I missed this what does "3" mean?

 

Critical. Bad, bad loss. And were we ever really ready to play this game?

The offensive playcalling was some of the worst Ive seen, and on par with how we used to call with Rodney Peete in the game. That lets me know we have no confidence in Delhomme, and if thats the case, we need to try to address that seriously in the offseason.

Foster still doesnt deserve a big contract. He made cuts when he shouldve gone forward, and got injured again. Davis shouldnt be taken out completely. He still shows flashes.

We still take entirely too long to adjust on defense. If were not up on a team, we tend to have problems.

When we knew they were going to run, we couldnt stop them.

Dan Morgan is not physical. He gets around the ball, but hes not strong enough.

Now were fighting for our playoff lives. Tampa owns the tie breaker, and now we have to root for the stinking ATL against them. If ATL wins, we MUST beat ATL. If Tampa wins, it looks like they take the NFCS. And what makes it sting, is that we didnt even come to play today. And with Dallas coming, and a Saints team that always plays us tough, we might be on the outside looking in.

If Dallas gets on a run, and Minnesota continues its surge, and we lose another one....were in deep shit.

One game, and it looks like we didnt even take this game seriously. The playcalling in the first half was some of the worst Ive seen. Our players didnt know which down it was. We were a mess. This was a loss all around. The coaches failed...the players failed. One thing is clear, it was a total failure along the line.

We went from a favorite to a wild card hopeful. Hope this sinks in to a team that seems to pick the weeks it'll care.

 

Yeah, Proehl could have made a better effort to come back for the pass. The kicking game was complete shit. I don't know the numbers, but the lost field position absolutely buried us today.


Does anyone know the story with Gaines, or did they just decide not to dress him?

 

Gaines was hurt.

 

Davis didnt hit that hole, and that is on him, but I didnt like the call, or the decision.

 

Figured.

I wasn't able to follow the team a whole lot during the week, so I was about as lost as the players were today. I do admire the fact that we continue to let Smart return kickoffs. He's doing a terrific job.

 

That's ridiculous hyperbole, but you do get pretty crazy after a loss. The play-calling was fine. We took some shots downfield, we just didn't connect on them. And the running plays called were more to my liking than pretty much anything we've run this year, given that we mixed it up more often and actually tried some sweeps today.

No, he doesn't. Honestly I'm on the fence as to whether or not I even want him back for a mid-level contract. To me it's one of those Dan Morgan things where you ask if the gain of having the talented player in there occasionally is worth the cost of disruption that comes from the player missing a lot of time.

Flashes of what? You or I could have gained 20 yards on that one sweep because the blocking was excellent. Davis wasn't even touched on that play, while he has been absolutely horrible after contact all season. He is D-O-N-E.

Actually we did pretty well in that respect. As noted in Piper's thread, we gave up most of their rushing yards in the 4th quarter when we were worn down, especially on the drive after the spirit-crushing interception. I credit the defense for coming back out on the next drive and completely shutting down the run, just as they had done for most of the game. Williams' two touchdowns were back-breakers, but those and one other 10 yard gain were the only big runs he had all day. Most of the time he got 0-3 yards.

I didn't support drafting him, but I think everyone is surprised at how ordinary he's been throughout his career. He's just not good even when healthy, which is frustrating even before you consider that we stupidly gave him a huge contract extension.

If, if, if, if. Today really hurt us in the division, but we're still in solid shape overall. It would take a miracle for Minnesota to pass us because we own the tie-breaker, while we still have control over our own fate with games against Dallas and Atlanta.

I really think the fans are completely off base when they say things like this. The team does care and the team did take Tampa seriously. But we were emotionally drained after Atlanta, and you absolutely have to give credit to the Buccaneers for the way they played. They played an excellent game from top to bottom, and you're going to lose most of the time your opponent plays like that.

 

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that the Panthers drop the next three games. Saints, Cowboys and Falcons... only the Saints are bad and if the team that showed up this week goes to Louisiana next week that could be another L. Cowboys and Falcons will be tough games..