Buccaneers Observer

While the Buccaneers were flagged for what felt like an exorbitant number of penalties, in reality the Saints only scored three points off of penalties. Overall, the one that hurt us the most was the holding call on Ross Cockrell. The Buccaneers were the benefactors of seven non-calls in a complete turn of events.  

In general, this game was not our best showing. I wouldn't go as far to say it was Keystone Cops-esque, but it was like the team's brain was foggy at times.  While the game did not turn out like we hoped, we'll rebound and be fine.

Has NFL officiating ever been worse than this year?? Between the BS roughing the passer call on Gholston (which negated Winfield's interception), the taunting call on Devin White, and the lack of calls against the Saints, those zebras can eff allllllll the way off.  

Still, the Bucs were in it until Brady's devastating interception in the last two minutes. He'll be sitting on this loss over the bye, and will take it out in our Week 10 matchup against the Washington Football Team.

Who wants revenge more: Sean Payton, Jameis Winston, or the Buccaneers?   

Sean Payton's franchise quarterback got retired by the Bucs.   

Jameis Winston is facing his former team for the first time as a starter.   

The Buccaneers were swept by the Saints in the regular season last year, and while they exacted their revenge in the playoffs, was it enough? Or does the Buccaneers defense want a piece of Jameis as payback for all the games that he lost them?   

Jameis plays a very different role as quarterback of the Saints. He's throwing the ball significantly less than he did with the Bucs. Could you argue he's a game manager?   

Should this game go wonky and the Bucs lose (doubtful), it will not have as big as an impact on the Bucs as the second game will. We'll still have a chance for revenge later on in the season. And there's no question the Bucs will make it into the playoffs, so our chances may be hurt by a loss, but not completely dashed.

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After the game, we determined Leonard Fournette deserved the game ball. But after review of the game film, Ralph determined the offensive line, in fact, won us that game and thus deserved that game ball. Donovan Smith boasted afterward that he made #99 his son. The game film determined that was the truth.  

The Buccaneers receivers had a few dropped passes, but the Bears had even more than that.  

Bucs special teams played phenomenally, particularly #28 Darwin Thompson. He may be the new Ryan Smith, special teams stud.  

Overall, it appeared the Bears coaches quit after halftime, electing the run the ball the remainder of the game.

The Chicago Bears game was a glorious, glorious beatdown. We've been on the other side of those types of games too many times, so enjoy it, Bucs fans! The defense showed resiliency even while missing many starters, including Lavonte David, Carlton Davis III, and Sean Murphy-Bunting. The offense had a record-setting day, with Tom Brady scoring his 600th passing touchdown, the only NFL player to ever do so.  

We've been MIA the last few weeks due to a variety of reasons. Thanks for all of those who reached out. The biggest reason we took a pause was the Jon Gruden fiasco. We didn't get to it in the podcast but let us know if you want to hear our thoughts and perhaps that will be in the next episode. We have other projects going on which have taken our time and attention, but will be back regularly this week.  

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It's about what we expected. This game is what the Patriots game should have been had the receivers caught the damn ball. The Buccaneers played a complete game. Miami, to their credit, played hard and showed flashes. However, the Buccaneers did not get out unscathed. Lavonte David suffered a high ankle sprain after Ndamukong Suh rolled up on his ankle. Tom Brady could be seen icing his thumb on the sideline. It doesn't appear it will affect his availability this Thursday when the Bucs face the Eagles in primetime.

The score against the Patriots was not as lopsided as it should have been. Between the Buccaneers receivers dropping seven passes, OJ Howard's abysmal blocking and the refs blowing some calls, the score should have been closer to Ralph's prediction of 45-10.   

The Buccaneers defense did a lot of good things, even with the injured secondary. To be sure, Richard Sherman was lost at times, but he did as well as could be expected. Patriots quarterback Mac Jones had no chance against the Bucs pass rush. Jones had a MAXIMUM of three seconds in the pocket every throw.  

The Patriots gave LT Donovan Smith much of the night off. Smith was often seen with absolutely NO ONE to block.  

Leonard Fournette was an absolute stud this game.  

The Dolphins game this Sunday should be an absolute blowout. We're playing at home against a team Brady knows having played against his entire career at New England. Although the Dolphins get a new coaching staff almost as often as the Buccaneers, Brady is very familiar with Head Coach Brian Flores as he is of the Belichick coaching tree.   

QB Jacoby Brissett is playing in Tua's absence and so far is winless since his debut Week 2 after Tua broke his ribs. That game was a shutout by the Bills.

The defense really secured this one for the team. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka got two sacks. Richard Sherman recovered a fumble punched out by Antoine Winfield, Jr. William Gholston and Shaquil Barrett also showed up. The Bucs allowed -1 yards net rushing by the Patriots. There was a high cost to this game, however, as the Buccaneers lost Carlton Davis III and Antoine Winfield, Jr. to injury. Winfield's return should be imminent, although probably not before Sunday's matchup against the Dolphins as he will not clear the concussion protocol before then. But Davis's return is in the lurch as more tests are administered Monday.  

The Buccaneers offense was lackluster, with no less than six dropped passes by Buccaneers receivers. The running game really showed up this game, and carried the offense to the only touchdown scored by the team.  

The refereeing was horrendous.

The refs were absolutely atrocious during the Rams game. There were several no-calls on personal foul penalties that would have given the Bucs favorable field position. Rob Gronkowski was targeted by Jalen Ramsey in the endzone on one such foul.   Rams QB Matt Stafford played at an elite-level. He may be a force to be reckoned with with this monstrous Rams team around him. We will see them again in the playoffs.  The Buccaneers signed Richard Sherman to a one-year deal. Sherman will bolster the secondary, bringing a veteran presence in the DB room that is desperately needed.  Tom Brady returns to Gillette Stadium to face off against his former team. New England Head Coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels know Brady well. The game should be a chess match. In the end, the Buccaneers will take this one.

Did the Rams just make a fatal mistake? Don't they know Tom Brady feeds off these types of losses come playoffs?  We can safely say the Buccaneers brought their C-game, whereas the Rams brought their A-game. The Rams had this game circled on the calendar. There were celebrities in attendance: the cast of Ted Lasso, Halsey, Mike Tyson, Kate Hudson, Rob Lowe and the Kardashians. This game appeared to mean more to them than it did to the Buccaneers. You would think it was a Super Bowl game.  

The Buccaneers showed up lackluster and without energy. The refs certainly didn't help the Bucs' case, but we don't think the results would have been different had they called a clean game.   

We're not concerned though. Teams that peak this early rarely carry it through the season. And while we wanted to see an undefeated season, the reality is that was always a longshot. Recall if you will how the Bucs played at the beginning of last season and ask yourself if we are even close to that mediocre now. We will only get better.  

This feeling is weird. It's been a long time since we've had a Monday like this. Consider that a blessing.