Can The Bucs Hang With Atlanta, New Orleans?

November 16th, 2010

Jim Mora, Charles Davis and Dick Stockton discuss the current state of the Bucs and if playoffs are a realistic goal in this FoxSports.com video.

17 Responses to “Can The Bucs Hang With Atlanta, New Orleans?”

  1. Dave Says:

    They beat New Orleans at the end of the season last year and hung with ATL witha chance to win at the end just 2 weeks ago.

    So why the question?

  2. Gary Says:

    If our D can improve just a little bit we can def. hang with both of those teams.

  3. Joe Says:

    Dave:

    Joe’s curious what his readers think of the analysis in the video.

  4. mike56wesley Says:

    thats what ive been waiting to hear,tampa is earning the respect from the media by their play.tampa is starting to play with a swagger and you can see the progress on defense,as well as the offense,and i see developement from some of the d-lineman their is going to be changes but i can see a couple of those def.ends sticking around crowder and bennett one of those two will start next year and have a good year.i dont usualy make predictions but we will learn first hand how to be physical when we play baltimore i think the defense will be ready willing and able when we play atlanta.[a collision between blount and ray lewis]boldan against talib,lewis vs winslow

  5. derf Says:

    Interesting video link.

    Funny that they mentioned Joseph Davin as being nasty along with Trueblood – but Trueblood has been OUT for the past 2 weeks. Not one mention of what many believed was our best OT – Penn. Nothing about Faine or Zuttah either.

    I agree about Freeman and Williams and guess who they DIDN’T mention. Nothing about Benn…hmmm I wonder why?

    Blount was mentioned a lot as well.

    Jim Mora was pretty much politically correct and mentioned the injury issue which IS important. Charles Davis called it like it is – Tampa isn’t in the same league as the Saints and Falcons – YET!

    Not one mention about the Bucs defense…What a 180 degree turnaround from 1999!

  6. derf Says:

    POWER RANKINGS OUT:

    1. ATLANTA

    14. BUCS

    Nuff said…

  7. JDouble Says:

    How cool would it be if come week 17 the Bucs and Saints are both 9-6 and that last game of the season decides the last Wildcard spot? Win or lose it sure would be exciting to be involved in a game that big at the end of the season.

    I think our chances are pretty good simply because of injuries. Injuries usually start to add up in last quater of the season and can really effect the outcome, but with us, other than Freeman, Blount, and Mike Williams….we really don’t have anyone on either side of the ball that causes a huge drop off between them and thier back up. Maybe add Talib and Penn to that list, but overall we can plug in the next guy in line at most spots and not have a big drop off in production.

  8. BamBamBuc Says:

    Power rankings change every week. If they were accurate, they’d predict the Super Bowl teams in week 1’s power rankings.

    That said, we aren’t currently better than either the Saints or Falcons. That doesn’t mean we can’t beat either or both of them. You don’t have to be the better team, you just have to outplay your opponent each week. And that’s what Raheem Morris has these guys doing. They’re playing each and every week like it’s the most important game of the season and they’re playing til the final seconds tick off the clock.

    Even against the Panthers, in a situation that’s virtually meaningless (up 31-16 with basically no time left), we went out to stop the Panthers in a goal line situation. Why? Because we would lose if we gave that TD up? No…. Because the team plays til the clock strikes zero.

    That’s why we can beat Atlanta and New Orleans. Not because the team is better, but because we have a better “team”. They play like a team, they fight for each other out there. If one area is lacking, others pick it up. The offense carries the defense, the secondary carries the D-line, the run game supports the pass game. Raheem Morris has gotten these guys to act more like a team and less like a bunch of indiviual players.

  9. BamBamBuc Says:

    Jdouble,

    I agree with that assessment. I believe that’s what Raheem Morris has been calling the “No Blink” factor. Faine goes down, the team doesn’t blink, they plug in Zuttah. Sims and Price go down, they don’t blink, the pick up and plug in Al Woods. Quincy Black goes down, Dekoda Watson steps up. Tanard suspended, Grimm in. They don’t blink, they just move forward. There’s no “Oh Crap, we lost so-and-so”.

  10. mike56wesley Says:

    bambam,great post!

  11. BamBamBuc Says:

    Thanks

  12. MJ Says:

    Anyone who listens to Dick Stockton for analysis is misguided and probably a lot dumber after the fact.

  13. Ibleedpewter Says:

    Nice comment BamBam, I started reading the first paragraph and was about to call you out, but the third paragraph explains it all. By playing as a team, we are winning games.

    I think the best part about this is we are gaining confidence everygame. Sure we have lost 3 games to teams with winning records, but one thing I want to point out is with the losses to NO and PIT, we did not have Blount as are main running back. Now that we are using him as our #1 RB (even though it isn’t listed that way), we have won every game but one. And that 1 game was 6 inches and a leap away from being a big W for us. This also came against the current #1 ranked team, even though I think they have been getting away with too much and should be lower.

    It wouldn’t surprise me if we challenged for a playoff spot, and it came down to the last game vs. the Saints to tell wether or not we go.

  14. Pete 422 Says:

    Joe, What struck me was at the end when Dick Stockton said “One thing we know is they (Bucs) Have the quarterback to challenge those two other teams.” Josh is gaining the respect of the national media with his play.

    Charles Davis talked about the Bucs gaining confidence as the season continues. He seems to expect the Bucs to get even better as the season progresses. I agree and this is a team that could very well take Atlanta in a few weeks. That would be HUGE assuming they beat the 49ers.

    Jim Mora made a good point about the addition of Blount being that missing piece the offense needed to balance out the attack.

    Having a physical presence across the offense was an interesting observation.

    In my opinion, If we get a dominant (or even just good) D-line in the near future, this team could be scary good.

  15. Leroy Buttermilk Says:

    Haynseworth would be a great fit regardless of what people say watch the game film he makes it happen on the line

  16. Dave Says:

    DERF

    Seriously? You put that much into some bogus ranking? A glorified opinon of someone?

  17. Ravelston Says:

    I’ve looked at all the power rankings I can find (ESPN, Foxsports, Bleacher Report, Nfl.fanhouse, etc) and I can’t find the Bucs lower than 13 in any of them. The only one that ranks the Falcons #1 has the Bucs #11. I don’t really think it matters – the Falcons have a better record from a stronger schedule than the Bucs, so it’s not a surprise. The rankings seem to have the Bucs at 10, 11, 12, 13 – could you have imagined this before the season?