“Ordinary Stuck In Neutral”
October 18th, 2022
Are the Bucs even a Super Bowl contender any longer?
Oh, the Bucs have had bad games in the past when they’ve been considered one of the best. The past two years the slimy Saints came into Tampa and made the Bucs look like they were still stuck in the Lost Decade.
A lot of the national media is focused on the Bucs’ celebrity Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady. But long-time NFL writer and columnist Clark Judge points out the Bucs have to correct a whole lot more problems than just the gossip columnists writing about Brady.
… … It was Brady who earlier this month said, “There’s a lot of bad football from what I watch.” He should know. He watches it every Sunday. Once upon a time, the Bucs were considered a Super Bowl threat. Now they’re little more than an ordinary stuck in neutral. It’s one thing to lose to the Steelers in Pittsburgh; it’s quite another to lose to the Steelers when they’re without Mikah Fitzpatrick, three cornerbacks and are forced to turn to Mitch Trubisky at quarterback.
So are the Bucs a bad football team? The past four weeks you might make a pretty good argument.
The Bucs lost to the Packers in a close game and the Packers have turned into a fraudulent team. The Bucs got their arses kicked by the Chiefs. The Bucs escaped the dismal Dixie Chicks. And the Bucs — one guy in particular — didn’t have the common sense to attack a decimated Steelers secondary with his superior offensive weapons and got beat by a one-win team.
So no, right now, the Bucs are not good. At least on offense, they are not playing like a good team.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:09 am
3-3…..that’ ordinary….
The shame of it all is that Byron has blown any chance of being a HC…..oh how I wanted those comp picks……
October 18th, 2022 at 9:09 am
The rest of the NFL caught up and surpassed the collection of aging stars the Bucs roll out on Sundays.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:10 am
And this coaching staff is not even close to being good enough to win meaningful games let alone a playoff game or SB. Sadly, Tom should have retired.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:11 am
I ain’t seen a glimpse of good football yet!
It’s possible but they have dug a deep hole for themselves.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:17 am
the next 3 months will tell a lot about Todd Bowles?????????????????????????????????????????????????????I have to sarcastically have to ask. It shouldn’t take 6 games to only become a half arse team. I’m not a Rhodes scholar but I have enough common sense to know if their secondary is depleted, you eat them alive, Todd needs to go to Walmart and buy some intensity. How in hell do you expect your team to be fired up when you are less intense than Ben Stein. Todd could take that Bucs hat off and put a Jets hat on and we couldn’t tell the difference. How does a great team go from almost repeating the Superbowl??????? Simple put Todd in the drivers seat. BUT student drivers scare me to death
October 18th, 2022 at 9:17 am
Brady is finished and he can’t grasp it, so he blames everyone else.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:20 am
I just don’t see it for us. Again it goes back to Tom having to release the ball as quickly as he does. The defense can just stack the box because odds are it’s going to be a run up the gut or a quick pass inside the box. Add in the fact the four dlineman can get inside our 5 olineman and it’s just a sh!t show. Because our oline sucks. Because Brady is completely immobile. All defenses have to do is play the odds.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:20 am
“…You are what your record says you are…”. At 3-3, the Bucs are ordinary and playing like a NON-playoff team, or in a best case scenario, a ONE and DONE playoff team.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:21 am
The only way this team goes to the Super Bowl is if they buy tickets and sit in the stands!
October 18th, 2022 at 9:23 am
I’d say ‘ordinary’ fits the Bucs to a tee right now. Or maybe ‘average’ … as in a 3-3 record? Nothing exceptional, just middle-of-the-pack.
Of the remaining 11 games, 6 of them are also ‘ordinary’ teams with 3-3 records right now. Panthers are struggling at 1-5, and the rest (Browns, Saints, Cardinals) are all slightly less than ‘ordinary’ at 2-4. Going 7-4 the rest of the way SHOULD win the NFC South (10-7 SHOULD do it this year), but even that will be a challenge for an ‘ordinary’ team.
Right now is the time to ‘do something’. You know, like try to talk Ndamukong Suh into coming onboard, and maybe even trading for another OLineman and/or TE (here’s looking at you JL). Hopefully we get Jensen & Hicks back before too long to help create a spark. Speaking of sparks, maybe someone could light a fire under this entire coaching staff?
October 18th, 2022 at 9:27 am
They are stuck in neutral, they are in reverse. It wasn’t the break down of any one piece of the team, the whole team took a ride in a hand-basket.
Bowles needs to get the team motivated, and Brady is not one to find motivation in a coach.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:40 am
How quickly they forget. I challenge each and every one of us supposed Buccaneer fans. Take some time this week to research and recall how the team progressed season quarter by season quarter in 2020. We did not get on a roll and seemingly start playing complementary football until the end of December. Just in time for the play offs.
Can this team pull off something similar under Mr. Todd Bowles. We have to watch it unfold week by week as we always do. “That’s why they play the games.”
Go Bucs!
October 18th, 2022 at 9:41 am
Look at the damn Giants, COACHING make a difference!!! Wake up Bowles and company, please!!!!
October 18th, 2022 at 9:52 am
Gee, I thought you said style points doesn’t matter.
Yes, quite literally in terms of wins and losses it doesn’t matter but it tells a story. I don’t want to hear the standard quotes coming from players about how it’s a long season and every opponent is tough. Super Bowl caliber teams (which include the coaches) usually demolish teams that are decimated with injuries or have sub-par talent. The Bucs haven’t shown that.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:53 am
fire BL and let TB12 call his own plays, WTF, how hard is that to think of ! The Glazers would show the world another first !
October 18th, 2022 at 9:58 am
Where are all those BA was the problem people? Tom is clearly checked out and has a broadcasting deal ALREADY SIGNED.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:59 am
Its a long season, and anything can happen. This team started in a hole, and just havent put it together so far. I dont think they began the season prepared, and it is really showing in the poor performances, and the loss of two close games we would have won last season. The offense has been particularly disappointing so far, and I have to lay the blame on Brady. The only person in the building that could have held him in check was moved to the front office, and we got the Goat taking extended vacations during training camp, and shaking his tailfeathers with the owner of another team instead of being “all in” with his teammates. Wondering if TB12 is reading from Wilson’s cookbook.
October 18th, 2022 at 10:08 am
No.
Huge failure this offseason by Licht.
He brought in a bunch of duds.
Lost a lot of lockerroom presence and Brady has been an asentee leader so far.
This is a 10-7 team at best
October 18th, 2022 at 10:23 am
The NFL as a whole has been a very very poor product this yr. Like, really f’ing bad. Brady is 100% right. Mostly mediocre to bad teams and mostly mediocre to bad play. It hasn’t been entertaining. It is not just good defense, most of it is poor preparation and execution. The game has changed in a way that takes away from quality. From practicing a lot less, hitting a lot less (if at all) in practice. The pseudoscience of load management during the week similar to the NBA. Dudes in the 90s got the dog shi beat out them but yet players then got hurt way less. Riddle me THAT please. Too much is being legislated out of the game and the pearl clutchers and lawyers are going to ruin it
October 18th, 2022 at 10:34 am
Leftwich has benefited from riding Arians offense that would sling the ball all over with success due to exceptional talent, give him an offense like the Giants and you’ll witness a complete collapse in production.
October 18th, 2022 at 10:44 am
I agree, we are not a super bowl team, far from it.
We will be lucky to win our division.
Atlanta is really surging lately, and just beat the 49ers.
If not for a bad call, they would have beat us too.
Other teams have caught up and surpassed us.
I totally agree with the other poster who said “The only way this team is going to the Super Bowl is if they buy tickets”
Sad, but true.
I am as big a Homer as anyone, and I love my Team.
Just trying to keep it real
October 18th, 2022 at 11:04 am
I can’t get as negative as anyone but c’mon, 3-3 and the sky is falling. The Bucs lost to only one NFC team so far and GB is spirling like a turd during the flushing process. Bowles and Licht do have to recognize BL is killing them. Think about the GB game, double reverse pass with backup players that killed a scoring drive, post a holding call 1st in 20 run up the middle for NO gain now 2nd & 20. 30 seconds left runs the ball causing Bowles to use their final TO and most recent running the entire Pittsburgh game against a depleted secondary? This man is either very stupid or check his bank account because he’s betting against the Bucs.
October 18th, 2022 at 11:36 am
There is a big difference in losing 5 games in 2020 and what we see here now. Even in those losses and covid the team was never this bad. People don’t seem to even count the preseason games this year. They were horrible. There seems to be little spark and spunk. Yet, many of our (previous?) great players are still on the team. I don’t know what is wrong unless coaching is the problem but we still have most of those winning coaches and Bruce is even still around. It is like a dark cloud hanging over our team. There seems to be so much wrong that the games are not even fun to watch anymore. I am stymied.
October 18th, 2022 at 11:42 am
I’ll bet a dime to a dollar that nothing changes on Sunday. We may win just because of how bad Carolina is but we’ll still see the same problems as every other game they’ve played this year.
October 18th, 2022 at 12:11 pm
The goat is still a goat. Brady hasn’t lost a step, he never had one. That’s why he is still playing at 45. Right now everyone is on the eagles and bills wagon but wait till playoff time.Playoffs are one loss and out. Okay, Tampa have their issues that need cleaning up but it’s a long season and you would be an idiot to think they won’t clench their division. With that being said, that puts them even with all nfc teams on their path to the super bowl and we know Tom Brady’s game play in the post season. I can. almost guarantee the bills and eagles will not be in the big game and I can almost guarantee Tampa will be In the nfc championship game..
October 18th, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Yes, they are a bad team right now until they can prove us wrong and string together some solid wins! Until then, we will be LUCKY to make the playoffs (bad division or not).
October 18th, 2022 at 6:42 pm
One loss from an implosion. Rams… boom.
October 18th, 2022 at 10:19 pm
Ordinary is a kind description to the 2022 Suckaneers.
October 18th, 2022 at 11:50 pm
What they said. The Bucs are living off the Super Bowl two years ago and are bored on defense. Combine bored on defense with complacency that accompanies living off your Super Bowl win and you end up with a bad football team. That’s is not to say the Bucs can’t play better because they can. But, if they are such a bunch of cream puffs that they are still living off the Super Bowl there may be no hope for them this year.
October 20th, 2022 at 1:19 am
Don’t know why Brady even came back. Just look who they lost before the injuries: Gronk, AB, Marpet, Suh, JPP, Godwin coming back from ACL. Add to that the brutal schedule and even if everyone overachieved a SB win was a long shot. Have to admit though that I never thought they would fall as badly as they have. Even worse, they seem to be on a downward trajectory, even with some of the injured players coming back.