Falcons 56, Buccaneers 14
September 18th, 2014
Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.
This was the big stage, Thursday Night Football, against a division rival the Bucs prepared for all offseason. Lovie Smith even acknowledged earlier this week that he was glued to Hard Knocks to get every last possible edge on the Falcons.
And the Bucs didn’t show up.
Here’s how the Bucs’ first eight offensive possessions shook out against a subpar Atlanta defense.
punt
INT (pick-6) by Josh McCown
fumble turnover Bobby Rainey
punt (62-yard punt return by Devin Hester)
punt
punt
time ran out
fumble turnover Bobby Rainey
There’s so much blame and shoddy play to talk about Joe doesn’t know where to start — from special teams to coaching, to sad quarterback play, to Bobby Vaseline-hands Rainey, to a Bucs coaching staff that hasn’t found any defensive answers, only more questions.
There was absolutely no reason for the Bucs to crumble like this. How do you lose Julio Jones in the end zone and routinely play five yards off him? Matt Ryan was playing a freakin’ video game in the first half.
Newsflash: don’t punt the ball to Devin Hester.
Bucs fans should be freaked out and leery. Last year taught us all that things can crumble faster than anyone could imagine. And that lesson was reinforced tonight.
Lovie Smith must find a way to stop the bleeding, and find more hungry players. This game was no anomaly. It represents a serious problem.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:41 pm
LOOKS LIKE I PICKED THE WRONG DAY TO QUIT SNIFFING GLUE !
September 18th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
fire lovie tomorrow
September 18th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Didn’t watch. Didn’t watch last week. Might find something better to do next week.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
If Lovie had any integrity as a man he’d resign for that effort. Quitting in week 3 of the season? I mean what can you even say to that? This is a continuation of the Raheem era. What an utterly disgraceful performance.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Made me long for the days of Shiano.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Glad to see the team so fired up ready to play a “must win game”. Great upgrade that Lovie Smith is…proven winner who would improve the defense almost immediately. Yes I am pIssed off like the rest of the fanbase is or should be!
September 18th, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Accurate assessment. It was as much a disaster as a football performance could be.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:43 pm
The billboard companies are licking their chops
September 18th, 2014 at 11:43 pm
gotta love the nfl, 3 games in and the season is already over.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Yep. I’m done. See ya’ll after the season when I’ll be tricked into caring again.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Don’t have much to say, I’m totally embarrassed
For Tampa region…I’m speechless…unbelievable.
Gutless performance.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:44 pm
Done. Just done. Since 2002 I have watched this team take one step forward and ten steps back. I will never spend my money on this team again. Win, lose, I don’t care anymore.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:45 pm
Boycott the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:45 pm
Wake up call all the way for Lovie Smith and his staff. What a mess. So embarrassing. I suddenly saw Rahin Morris team on the field.
Absolutely unacceptable !!!
September 18th, 2014 at 11:45 pm
Been a fan since early in ’79 season. I have never been more embarrassed to be a Bucs fan. This is a new low.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:45 pm
I mean, that was so awful, I watched the whole thing just to laugh at my own lot in life. What is this?
I said it allllllllll friends summer. Lovie runs an outdated defense, an outdated style of football, he doesn’t like points, he can’t stop points, and he can’t admit he is wrong about how to win games.
To quote Ace Ventura: Man I’m tired of being right.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:46 pm
A totally embarrassing performance tonight. Can they turn this mess around? Who knows, they’ve got a lot of work to do.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:46 pm
lovie you kick it to hester over and over you are not a buc..
September 18th, 2014 at 11:46 pm
‘Leary’
September 18th, 2014 at 11:47 pm
Time to run those Schiano stunts because whatever Lovie and Frazier call that supposed defense is a helluva lot worse.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:47 pm
Lovie is just a guy who’s not getting through to the players. He and the team will say how mad they are and how embarrassed they are, how hard they’ll work to get this fixed blah blah. The they’ll go out and get their asses handed to them by the Steelers because that’s just what the Steelers do to the Bucs. Ugly and only spiraling downwards..
September 18th, 2014 at 11:49 pm
Ahhhhhh 1st overall draft pick, here we come. No for real. We are the worst team in the league. Worse than Cleveland. Worse than Buffalo. Seriously. Worse than F’in Buffalo
September 18th, 2014 at 11:49 pm
gutless because the staff sold them and the fans a bill of goods about being aggressive
horrible coaching with uneven discipline. yank one guy for a turnover and keep mcclown after how many picks?
horrible D scheme
too much to list, but lovie should be fired. the only way to save any face.
get a high school coach. this guy is an a$$ clown full of hot air
September 18th, 2014 at 11:51 pm
The Glazers should be held accountable. They need to sell this team to an owner who wants to win. After they sell, the new owner needs to hire a GM who knows how to evaluated talent. They need to look no further down the street than the Tampa Bay Lightning. Great owner, great GM who knows how to evaluate talent.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:51 pm
as a player would you play for a team that has made these decisions?
they’ll never regain their respect. expect more starters going to IR. could go 0-16
September 18th, 2014 at 11:53 pm
Stone face lovie, isis could behead is mother and he would be emotionless stoneface idiot..
September 18th, 2014 at 11:53 pm
This makes me realize that there are things more important than football. I’ve spent countless hours reading bucs blogs, investing my time listening to radio host and spending money on jerseys and beer. What for? Time to invest in myself and my family.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:53 pm
Why do people keep talking bout Raheem Morris? He got more out of a talent challenged team than Lovie or Schiano! It was his FIRST time being a head coach period! Deal with present u jackasses! Our team is new, new coaches, new players, new scheme etc etc. If u wanna quit being fans than quit. But how can u rag on players for quitting. Im pissed off too. But i f-ing love my Bucs so i deal with it and hope for the best. Kiss my ass to all fair weather fans!
September 18th, 2014 at 11:54 pm
Who wants to go back to discussing how Ritchie Incognito might wreck this team?
September 18th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
I’m so disgusted. We are way beyond irrelevant, beyond embarrassing. The Bucs are reaching new lows every week. What can be said that hasn’t been said the last 5 years dealing with this $#it? There’s no analysis that can sum up how awful this organization has become. There are no bright spots, no hope for this team. All doom and gloom. Bucs life baby!
September 18th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
Bobby Rainey is soooooo much better than Doug Martin…right guys, RIGHT? Morons.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:57 pm
i have never in my life seen a sorry team like this .the quaterbacks suck,the defense is out to lunch,the coach is high we suckaneers i think for the money they give them sorry ass players i could do better for that kind of money what are they thinking why do we suck all the time mannnnnnnnnn
September 18th, 2014 at 11:57 pm
@ reality…another one of lovies dumb moves!
September 18th, 2014 at 11:58 pm
I feel really bad for logan mankins. To go from hanging w Brady in btown where they were gods, to this. It’s like a bad episode of the twilight zone. I think someone on JBF said that this week; the twilight zone.
September 18th, 2014 at 11:59 pm
Evans tries to catch the ball with his eyes closed, Just sayin, don’t seal club me..
September 19th, 2014 at 12:00 am
I told you all this team was garbage.. and I cant believe people on here defended them..
September 19th, 2014 at 12:02 am
Somewhere Greg Schiano is laughing his ass off!!!
September 19th, 2014 at 12:03 am
Soggy now that you bring up clubs. Let me just say if you can hold a clipboard with your bad hand then you can play. I smell something fishy and it might not be fish. Ya dig?
September 19th, 2014 at 12:03 am
Terrible passing
Terrible running
Terrible catching by the WNBA-can’t-touch-the-rim “Dunkaneers”
Terrible blocking
Terrible pass rush
God awful pass defense
Terrible rush defense
Terrible punt coverage
Flat out idiotic penalties
The ONLY bright spot I can find in this game, ONLY ONE is that Lavonte David returned to All-Pro form, looked like the only damn one trying on defense. Glennon looked decent. I can’t fully judge him because the blocking wasn’t there and neither was the catching. He resorted to check-downs because it was all the kid could do. Two botched snaps by Zuttah replacement Detriech-Smith didn’t help. Not trying to throw excuses out there but he played a helluva lot better than McCown.
This was just an outright poorly coached team performing poorly. And it starts at the head. Lovie Smith has embarrassed the entire Buccaneers franchise and their fans by putting such an atrocious team on the field. Hot seat? Well that all depends on the rest of the season. 2 or 3 or God forbid more of these games and Lovie won’t make it to 2015, hell he’s already got a good bit calling for his head and I can’t say I blame them. With all the hype and “win-now mode” talk and “fans shouldn’t be patient” talk and this is the crap you put on the field?
We are now officially the laughing stock of the NFL, at least when we sucked before we didn’t get embarrassed on Prime Time. I’ve already begun to hear the jokes from BSPN and NFL social media about our pathetic excuse for an NFL-caliber team. An INT fumble? Getting ran over by a way-past-his-prime RB like Steven Jackson? Leaving so many WR’s wide open that the announcers didn’t know which clips to use because there were so many? Getting burnt by Devin Hester and continuing to punt the ball to him? Dumb pick sixes and terrible ball security fumbles? Only the truly hard-core die-hard fans should be left. Everyone else has hopped off the bandwagon, and who can blame them?
It’s going to be a long season Bucs fans.
September 19th, 2014 at 12:04 am
Was leonRd Johnson crying on the sidelines? There’s no crying in football!!! wtf @David why is Johnson crying?
September 19th, 2014 at 12:09 am
@DB55 – Ya Man – Good point – wait we have 2 guys with that problem but still ya..
September 19th, 2014 at 12:17 am
TURRIBLE
September 19th, 2014 at 12:17 am
Look, if Lovie got canned tomorrow I wouldn’t shed a tear… but stop bringing up Schiano’s name. Just the name makes me cringe. We deserve far better than that. Far better than Raheem. Lovie gets a year to fix the apparent mess that he half-inherited and half-created. If this doesn’t get better fast, it’s conceivable not to see year 2 of Lovie. I really want Lovie to work out but it’s been as painful as possible thus far.
September 19th, 2014 at 12:19 am
Evan Dietrich-Smith should be cut tomorrow
September 19th, 2014 at 12:20 am
P.S. Everything WalkdaPlank said=spot on.
September 19th, 2014 at 12:20 am
This was a pathetic GD showing tonight, unfreaking real man
September 19th, 2014 at 12:22 am
Mankins must really hate bill now..
September 19th, 2014 at 12:23 am
Going nowhere soon, we are bad and turrible, and I had high F’ing hopes this year……..we suck shit
September 19th, 2014 at 12:24 am
Moderate it asshole, could care less
September 19th, 2014 at 12:27 am
You are lucky you have something to moderate, I’m surprised this site still exists, I’m sure 75 percent of the fan base has thrown the F’ing towel in………but I’m not one, I still believe
September 19th, 2014 at 12:29 am
I have really nothing to add, you’ve all said it so well…all I can do now is be embarrassed to be a long time Bucs fan and season ticket holder…
September 19th, 2014 at 12:31 am
I’m not gonna say anything like the BUCS couldn’t beat my high school team, but we looked like an expansion team from 1976 tonight, and so did the coaching staff
September 19th, 2014 at 12:43 am
Lovie may have been a “safe” hire,.. but not an upgrade!
September 19th, 2014 at 3:30 am
I like how you all thought they would compete…seriously? Come on guys, Dominick screwed this franchise bad I mean his drafts we’re terrible it’s going to take at least 2-3 drafts to fix this. I know you are sick of losing but you have to realize this is what happens when morons run the front office. I love this team, don’t get me wrong but I’m not surprised by this one bit, lower your expectations. This team isn’t good and the sooner you come to terms with that the sooner you will get over it, whining about it on here isnt doing anything.
September 19th, 2014 at 5:14 am
If the new uniforms were meant to hide the crappy play on the field well it aint working. It’s just not in the forseeable future that the Bucs will escape being the laughingstock of the NFL.
September 19th, 2014 at 5:45 am
Going to take time to flip this roster over. Ownership won’t fire lovie Smith with a 5 yr contact. Plus, I’m not sure anyone wants to Coach here..
my main concerns
Is lovie a good talent evaluator?
Can the cover 2 work in the new nfl? (Can’t intimidate wrs over the middle)
We need so many players can we pay McCoy 100 mill (not durable imo – how many games did Sapp miss?)
All n All life is good. Where should I play golf this weekend?
September 19th, 2014 at 5:49 am
Why don’t the glazers sell? They obviously don’t know what there doing,
September 19th, 2014 at 10:01 am
Burn the Clown Uniforms now. They have been disgraced on National TV. They have an image worse than the Bucco Bruce uniforms had. Go back to our Pewter and Red Uniforms! I said after the first game that our shrimp RBs do not have the strength to avoid being stripped, and that cost us two turnovers last night. Rainey needs to take lifting lessons from Patton who, while small, has lived in the weight room so he cannot be stripped. Tedford better start calling plays now or be fired. A QB Coach calling plays is a disaster in itself. The Tampa 2 does not work without an effective pass rush. So Lovie better be switching to man coverage a lot more. We have to have a Franchise QB now. Neither Glennon nor Josh are good enough. Bring in Tebo now so that after we lose the next two games he is ready to duplicate what he did for Denver, completely turning them around and winning seven in a row and took that poor team to the Playoffs. Note that our washed up Tackle Schiano got from Chicago is now starting at RT for Atlanta and doing well, because he gets good coaching there. We knew from the Preseason we had a good first string but the 2d and 3d teams were bad so we could not afford injuries. Bringing in bad players is on Licht. Lovie is not responsible for all the injuries.
September 19th, 2014 at 10:01 am
Picking up backups with potential to be starters may have cleared cap space for this year and improved cap space for future years but it sure hasn’t improved play on the field. The best that can be said for this team going forward is no one is going to put much effort into game planning against them so they may win a few. This is why coaches should stick to coaching and not building rosters no matter how much time they had to study in the basement.
September 19th, 2014 at 11:34 am
God dammittt go get Chuck back and pay him whatever he wants
September 19th, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Dean Wormer: “Poor game planning, poor coaching and poor motivation is no way to go through life in the NFL, son.”